I may at points subject CCTV and drone cameras to extreme conditions to provoke abnormal behaviour, triggering digital artefacts, which may provoke the emergence of ghostly imagery. As example of experiments to get a deeper knowledge of medium-specific modes of image production, I test the technical limits of interface(s) to uncover their potential as non-transparent mediators and as actual creators of imagery. Through this process of art production I analyse how digital surveillance materials, and documentary evidence, are constructed. These include still images and actual footage as visual material for making artworks.

Transversally, yet of relevance to these complementing analytical methods, I introduce the artistic component of my research, which consists of practice-based experiments using technologies of surveillance and their media-specific output. Finally, I engage with philosophy, namely hauntology to foreground aspects pertaining to the manifestation of ghostly visuals that may impact on social profiling. This will be developed alongside a discourse analysis of media studies scholarship tackling the fact-/fake-making potential of visual media. To structure this dual research I adopt a historical perspective that observes disparities and continuities between the first mechanical recordings of spectral apparitions – the nineteenth century analogue genre of spirit photography – and the contemporary digital video surveillance media that still create similar visuals. This is developed in parallel with a hands-on experimental approach where I make films and installations using surveillance footage.

It involves a theoretical research to study the social and political relevance of documentary evidence produced by CCTV and military drones. Methodologically, this artistic research project manifests in two realms: theory-based research and art practice. 1: Beyond the Violet End of the Spectrum – Visual Documents in the Age of CCTV and Drones – solo exhibition by Paula Albuquerque at Bradwolff Projects Gallery, Amsterdam, 2018.

Spectre ghost meaning