Bennett, Sarah [Artist] (2012) Institutional traits. (Photographs).

Abstract

In Series 1 of Institutional Traits, shown at the former Exeter College of Art and Design building, low quality digital images from employee photo identity cards are scanned at high resolution, enlarged and re-presented as a series of portraits that reveal continuous interaction with the security system of the workplace. As each photo card becomes scratched the face is increasingly obliterated, eventually rendering the image useless as a verifier of identity. The bar code remains the only functioning element. Also shown is Series 2 of Institutional Traits, comprising two large photographs of the building’s empty lecture theatre – abandoned along with the art education system that it served. The photographs are installed in the lecture theatre and will become markers of absence once the building is demolished.

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