The Inevitability of Function and the Governmentality in a Two-Prong Approach
9mm MDF, Mirrored Acrylic, JSON Data Stream, LG Display, Galvanized steel studs, BLE Bluetooth beacons, Nearbee App, Beaconstac CMS, Various visual and contextual content provided by artists, Viewers' Reflection, User's mobile devices, Double-sided tape, Screws and Emulsion paint.
Dimensions: Various // Duration: Ongoing
2019 -

Patrick Nielson aka Miguel Gomez

In the last decade, advances in interpersonal communication and information technology that utilize social media and mobile location tracking produced radical amounts of personalized user data that has been used to better understand consumers’ psychometrics in the commercial sector of the economy. Nonetheless, in a competitive and data-driven marketplace, a modernized museum has to find new and creative ways to increase viewership targets, enhance user experience (online and offline), improve logistics, grow revenue and effectively fundraise.

Like other large enterprises, museums collect consumer data using various digital methods, as well as, ones that are more traditional. However, how publicly funded cultural institutions engage in personal data collection and predictive analytics remains largely under-researched and often misunderstood. What can they learn from behavioural patterns of an audience at an exhibition and how can these findings inform the future of creation, curation and art criticism? More importantly, why do art museums collect user data will be one of the central questions of this project to illuminate voyeuristic digital practices and call into question the ethical threshold of cultural institutions in the 21st century.

Deliver Content Tailored to Your Interests is an ongoing project that intends to uncover and analyse new surveillance methods that contribute to institutions’ monitoring of the public they are indebted to serve. This work employs current academic research in the field of museography, mobile location tracking, behavioural psychology, and social media to introduce evidence of ethical oversight by the heritage sector which often spills over into the world of contemporary art. The work employs a mobile Indoor Positioning System (IPS) currently in use in various large and medium-sized institutions, as well as other visual devices which contribute to the governmentality of our cultural institutions.