A FEW WORDS FROM THE LOST BEAT OFFICER:
Now I am an artist. Before I was a Policeman. As a Policeman I was one of the first officers in the flagship trials of Dorothy, an interface linking the brain to a cloud. Dorothy Officers are hybrid agents cerebrally connected to a global archive of big data. When a Dorothy Officer arrives on a crime scene, the cloud begins a conversation with the officer’s thoughts, generating relevant forensic data. Dorothy collaborates with these hybrid agents to visualise a chain of activity relating to a specific crime. Here is a TED Talk I did that describes this technology:
I’m no longer employed by the Police. This art project emerged out of a malfunction in my Dorothy node, which resulted in an overly exuberant interest in the unsolved crime section of the database. Rather then become a whistle-blower I chose to reflect upon the traumatic scenes I witnessed through making and selling art and holding workshops (generously supported by the police).
Curiosity about how we act together lies at the heart of my practice. Working with performance, writing, drawing, moving image and workshops, I design structures that address of how and why we adhere to systems and what the possibilities of breaking with patterns might offer.
TRAINING SESSION: “Every contact leaves a trace”
The images above and below are the product of an International Independent Police Academy that fuses advanced digital forensics with the situationist practice of détournement.
Participants in training sessions modelled with clay to materialise missing evidence from disappeared activity and unexplained events in Mexico and around the world. If you wish to learn more, you can visit the Whitstable Biennale website here, or check out this video documenting a training session held in the seaside resort here
Later on the clay models were transformed into artworks when they became lots in a contemporary art auction at Morton's Auction House in Mexico City (link to online auction catalogue p77-78 here).
The idea was that corrupt individuals from the upper classes of Mexican society would purchase the artworks, which would then perform as double agents inside their homes, gently pushing them to face their guilty consciences and confess their crimes. The proceeds of the auction were to be donated to the Committee for the Protection of Journalists...
Unfortunately the items did not sell...
I then tried to re-sell the items on EBAY (as part of online curatorial project EXTRANGE) in a bid to recuperate my losses (auction house fees, shipping etc.). 50% of auction proceeds were to be donated to One World Media Trust - there's no option of donating to the Committee for the Protection of Journalists on EBAY.
Yet again, the lots did not sell.
I have not allowed these setbacks to discourage me. I am currently involved in staging a global Communist Revolution through deployment of sharing economy apps and the armies of service industry workers who work to perform a multitude of small tasks. In a nutshell the idea is that they will inadvertantly conspire to overthrow capitalism through being hired to do certain things that, when connected, will have a historic impact. You can read more arout this here: https://www.so-far.online/the-people-who-share/
contact: lostbeatofficer@hotmail.com
Made with performers Charles Adrian and Vera Chok