"Inside-Outside" is a series of actions tracing the outlines of individual institutions that make up the prison system in order to spatialize the scale of such places and to complicate their apparent separateness from the spaces of everyday life.
Each action uses a different ephemeral material, such as chalk, radio waves, or human movement, to temporarily materialize the footprint of a prison atop "prestige" landscapes such as college campuses and downtown shopping districts. The placement of the prison is established using ArcGIS and a handheld GPS unit, drawing attention to the ubiquity of geospatial surveillance that extends far beyond the walls of the prison and is deployed with the promise of convenience rather than the threat of violence. These group events include space for open-ended conversation about the literal and figurative footprint of the prison-industrial complex on the psychological, political, and physical landscapes of the present.
A gallery component for each iteration of the project includes, as appropriate, a high-resolution aerial photograph incorporating the prison buildings into the landscape, maps, GPS drawings, and a documentation video of the event.
Performed:
ISP Bloomington, September 2006
USP/SIU, November 2006
Proposed:
Super Block, a collecively performed
tape outline of Riker's Island on Williamsburg, Brooklyn
GSP Athens, a collectively performed chalk outline
of Georgia State Prison in downtown Athens
