The Cage’s Keeper

The Intravenous State

'The Intravenous State' is a play on words that recognises states' roles in bringing the contemporary corporation to life. The beginnings of the corporation as a legal entity (legally an individual) began in the late 19th century United States with the recognition that the corporation could be protected under the 14th amendment in US law. Since the beginning of the 20th century corporations have grown, often with the assistance of nation states, to become richer and larger than most countries in the world. The corporation can be seen as both the cause and solution to the world's current issues. If you wish to learn more about the role of the corporation in society there are two very worthwhile documentaries by Joel Bakin, you can find them here -> https://thecorporation.com/

The Blackford Project

The Blackford Project is based on the historical use of the photograph as an evidential document in the defunct pseudoscience physiognomy. The title in particular refers to the use of physiognomy and photography by Katherine Blackford and Arthur Newcombe in the early 20th century. Blackford and Newcombe ran a job placement agency whose ethos was to place individuals in certain types of jobs based on their appearance and according to the guidelines set out in physiognomy. Despite the racist nature of physiognomy it was still employed by the corporation in the late 19th and early 20th century to exclude certain ethnic groups from well-paid jobs. 'The Blackford Project' represents not just the historical role the corporation played in facilitating and perpetuating such an ideology but also demonstrates how technology like the photograph was deployed in order to support it.

Omnipresence

The panopticon was a prison designed by Jeremy Bentham in 1791. It was circular in shape with the cells on the outside and a guard tower located in the centre. It allowed a guard in a central tower to view the prisoners at all times, but the prisoners could not see the guard in the central tower. Unable to see if they were being watched or not, power became omnipresent, thus inducing a certain type of behaviour. Later, the French philosopher Michel Foucault used the panopticon as an analogy to describe how disciplinary societies are structured. Contemporary society, like the panopticon, constantly surveils us, inducing a certain kind of behaviour which over time becomes internalised.

The Umbrella

Sublimation

Marey's Ghost

The Empirical Extraction