Monitored and recognised: Peter Funch in conversation with Thomas Borberg
We are being monitored like never before, and wherever we go, we leave traces. It is these traces, and the constant surveillance in the cityscape, that photographer Peter Funch will talk about with photographer Thomas Borberg.
The talk stems from Royal Danish Library's permanent photo exhibition The Camera and Us and especially the room 'Identified - Monitored and Recognised', which includes Funch's work 42nd and Vanderbilt.
In today's Denmark, there are more than 1.5 million surveillance cameras monitoring where we are and what we do. With approximately one camera per every four inhabitants, Denmark is one of the most monitored countries in the world.
At the same time, companies are developing facial recognition software that can identify us in images. Although many are still skeptical about surveillance, it is becoming more and more ubiquitous, with algorithms and the sale of personal data.
In Peter Funch's work 42nd and Vanderbilt, he has photographed the same street corner in New York for several years. He subsequently went through his enormous material to create series with several images of the same people taken at different times. The series makes one think about daily surveillance, but also about the techniques that can be used on images. Today's technology can also be used to identify specific people and their movements, habits and patterns in the street space.
Peter Funch's work – as well as other works that incorporate the identification photograph – are included in the exhibition The Camera and Us, and after the event the exhibition will be open to the public.
Participants
Peter Funch
Peter Funch graduated as a photojournalist in 1999 and has since lived and worked in both New York and Paris. His work blends a sharp social angle with a cinematic visual language. Funch has published several books, including Babel Tales and 42nd and Vanderbilt, both of which focus on rituals and routines in the public sphere in New York.
Thomas Borberg
In addition to a long career as a photojournalist at various educational institutions, Thomas Borberg has worked as a photographer for Politiken. He has also served on the jury at several national and international photo competitions, including the 2016 World Press Photo Contest in the documentary and news photography category.
