PRISM

By Michael Takeo Magruder
Curation by Sarah Grochala
First produced by Headlong at King's College London (2014)

On 6 June 2013, journalists from the Guardian and Washington Post reported that the US National Security Agency (NSA) was undertaking a portfolio of clandestine mass surveillance programs on a scale reminiscent of George Orwell’s dystopian society of 1984. Their initiatives supposedly ranged from bulk collection of email and telephone records to infiltrating the data infrastructures of every leading internet company and service provider. These activities were not targeted at specific individuals or groups, but rather focused on compiling personal data from millions of unsuspecting citizens indiscriminately and without jurisdiction or oversight.

PRISM is a digital installation by artist Michael Takeo Magruder reflecting on these revelations and the person who brought this information to the public's attention, Edward Snowden.

Michael Takeo Magruder gave a talk on PRISM and aesthetic journalism at the Nam June Paik Art Center in autumn 2014.

Monday 15 – Friday 19 September 2014
Nam June Paik Art Center, Seoul, South Korea

Monday 17 – Saturday 29 March 2014
Entrance Hall, King's College London, Strand Campus

Produced by Headlong (2014).
A collaboration with the Cultural Institute at King's.