Inside the walls of the prison, there lies a traditional correctional facility, where the all-seeing eye of the surveillance system leads the person under surveillance to accept the constraints of those in power. The guards and the cameras alike assure him that his each and every move is being monitored, his every action. The only thing the prisoner can guard for himself are his own thoughts and feelings.
Outside the walls of the prison, where surveillance capitalism is dominant, there is, on the other hand, a lack of distinction between thoughts and action. On account of social media and search engines, data collection and hidden observation, the individual‘s thoughts, feelings and actions are being monitored. There is no separation between the internal and the external and the observer has no less interest in the individual‘s thoughts than in his physical actions or movement through space.
The prison, on the other hand, has become a confined space beyond the reach of social media, positioning systems and search engines. Those outside the walls of the prison cannot reach inside its walls to follow the prisoners‘ actions via social media or search engines. Inside the prison, no one writes any statuses or likes someone else’s posts. The surveillance, like the inhabitants, is limited to the space itself.
Anna Hallin and Olga Bergmann have been down many roads in their work, exchanging thoughts, developing ideas and establishing a collaboration for new works and compelling exhibitions. Together they make up the artist collaboration Berghall. One of the things that characterizes the work of Berghall, above other things, is the relationship between artwork and environment, whether the work relates to a traditional exhibition space, such as in a museum or an art gallery, to urban areas or to nature.