“The Watch" (2017) is a project by artist Darsha Hewitt (CA) and cultural history researcher Sophia Gräfe (DE). The video and installation work abstracts qualities of a household object from the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Centering on a standard Lawnmower model from this historical socialist state, Hewitt and Gräfe’s work sheds light on circular effects of militarism and surveillance on domestic design and behaviour. Using methods of abstraction and seriality, “The Watch” channels a re-imagination of domestic technology from the GDR. It sets out to explore how subtle forms of surveillance are felt in domestic and psychic spaces and connects everyday technology lived with in the GDR with present-day issues related to privacy and household autonomy.

When?
Excursion: Imaginaries (Transmediale 2017)
08.02.2017, 3pm-8:30pm

Where?
Langenbeck-Virchow-Haus
Luisenstraße 58
10117 Berlin 

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