Artist Discussion with Every Ocean Hughes
October 27
For the last forty years, Julia Scher’s research has explored social control dynamics in the public sphere, focusing especially on themes of surveillance. The art projects have taken the form of interactive installations, reformulated surveillance, site tours, interventions, performances, photography, writing, online projects, linear video, and sound.
This talk offers a personal and critical reflection on the intertwined histories of surveillance and security—fields in which Julia Scher has worked on as an artist.
Surveillance is often discussed as a technical or political issue, but it is also deeply emotional, cultural, and aesthetic. It shapes how we move, how we’re seen, and what we choose to hide. Drawing from historical precedents, contemporary systems, and her own artistic practice, Scher will explore how surveillance has expanded from state control and Cold War paranoia into the intimate, performative spaces of everyday life.
Today, we don’t just experience surveillance—we participate in it as participant/subjects. Many projects today introduce us to the complex negotiation of identity, access, and control that is continually evolving, growing, and what Scher would characterize as the Ecology of Visibility.
This lecture will reference a range of works and artists engaging these questions—many of whom, like Scher, use installation, media, and performance to engage with themes of vulnerability, visibility, and power. We’ll consider how art can reflect and disturb surveillance logics, from early conceptual gestures to some beginnings of AI-driven environments. The talk is presented as a short piece about systems—architectural, technical, social, psychological— and what societies have tried for the sake of civil peace.
Following the talk, Scher will be joined by Catherine D’Ignazio as respondent. D’Ignazio is an Associate Professor of Urban Science and Planning in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT. She is also Director of the Data + Feminism Lab which uses data and computational methods to work towards gender and racial equity, particularly as they relate to space and place.
Part of the Fall 2025 Lecture Series.
