Asides: Street Ghosts Project

Street Ghosts Project is an art project that took images from Google Maps of people walking their everyday routes, and printing off pixelized pictures of them and placing them where Google Street View found them. The website itself is really interesting because it is interactive and lets the viewer look at a map of the possible locations these “ghosts” were planted. It also lets you use Google Street View to find your own favorite ghost and suggest that their location be pixelized! In a way, the concept of this site is like stealing from a thief. The people photographed on Google did not give their consent to be there, so the artist did not use Google’s consent before using these same people to decorate the streets where they were filmed. Yes, the images on Google are copyrighted, but if they didn't seek the permission of their subjects, how can that be fair? What right does Google have over innocent peoples privacy? From up close, the pictures just look like blurry pixilations; but from afar, you can see characteristics and the shape of a real person. The artist also chose the pictures in the creepiest, most desolate and prime artistic locations for his work to add the emphasis that these people are ghosts or even victims of a war they didn't realize they were a part of. Using the spooky, ghostliness of the pictures, the artist emphasizes the fact that nothing is private and that people can be watched at any time or place. What a scary thought it is that walking down your street at home or on vacation, there is a picture of you at this location that anyone in the world can see. The author says, “By remixing and reusing this material, I artistically explore the boundaries of ownership and exposure of this publicly displayed, privately-held information about our personal lives.” This sentence perfectly sums up how nothing is really private anymore and our personal lives may not be so personal after all.