Security or surveillance?
In Eye Watch You, Jewel van Helden explores how the video doorbell has quickly become a common feature of our streetscape. What is marketed as a practical tool for convenience and security simultaneously records public spaces and the people moving through them—often without passersby consciously choosing to be recorded.
The work raises questions about the speed with which we have embraced this form of private surveillance. How much of others’ privacy are we willing to sacrifice for our own sense of security? And when does protection turn into constant surveillance?
From viewer to the viewed
Eye Watch You translates this current social dilemma into a physical, interactive installation. Visitors do not remain at a distance but become part of a system in which observing, controlling, and being observed constantly shift in meaning.
Van Helden plays on our natural curiosity and the tension between looking and being looked at. The work makes us feel how easily we assume the role of observer, while that same gaze can become uncomfortable as soon as it is directed at ourselves. In this way, Eye Watch You confronts visitors with their dual position within a society in which digital surveillance is becoming increasingly normal.
Who's watching?
The video doorbell is familiar and commonplace, but what happens behind the camera remains largely invisible. Who has access to the footage? Where is it stored? And what role do homeowners, technology companies, and manufacturing countries play in the collection and processing of this information?
Eye Watch You doesn’t provide a ready-made answer to these questions, but it makes the issue tangible and personal. It is precisely by becoming part of the work themselves that visitors create space for curiosity, discomfort, and conversation. The installation invites visitors to experience firsthand just how thin the line can be between security, surveillance, and the loss of privacy.
