Emmanuel Van der Auwera
VideoSculpture XX (The World's 6th Sense), 2019
6 LCD screens, polarization filter, plexiglass, 10 tripods, cables, HD video
13 min 34 sec
dimensions variable
dimensions variable
Edition of 2 plus 1 AP
Copyright the artist & Harlan Levey Projects
'VideoSculpture XX (The World’s 6th Sense)' is an immersive six-channel video installation offering a haunting, fragmented portrait of public life under surveillance. Using military-grade thermal footage filmed on the Las...
"VideoSculpture XX (The World’s 6th Sense)" is an immersive six-channel video installation offering a haunting, fragmented portrait of public life under surveillance. Using military-grade thermal footage filmed on the Las Vegas Strip, the work captures unaware civilians with sniper-like precision, using imaging technology originally developed for combat and security. Marketed under the euphemism “the world’s sixth sense,” these cameras function as tools of control and voyeurism. Van der Auwera physically alters each LCD screen, removing the polarizing filter, rendering the image invisible to the naked eye: viewers must move through the installation to glimpse fragments of the video. This transformation of the screen into a sculptural object is central to Van der Auwera’s artistic vocabulary. Viewing becomes an active, deliberate, embodied experience, implicating the audience in the systems they are witnessing. Sight is no longer instant or complete; it must be negotiated.