Critical Writing Index

Watch Me! Webcams and the Public Exposure of Private Lives

by Brooke Knight

Art Journal, Winter 2000, v. 59, no. 4, pp. 21-25

This article explores the phenomenon of personal webcam sites such as Jennicam.org and Anacam.com. Jennifer Ringley and Ana Voog record their lives via webcam and stream the images onto their websites. They maintain control over their images while remaining the subject of them, destabilizing the traditional cinematic gaze. The cameras are positioned in the home and the women are shown completing basic, mundane domestic tasks. The dichotomy between voyeur and object is unsettled due to the women's exhibitionist desire to be watched. Knight argues these sites are creating a new kind of erotics and a new kind of performance: that of the publicly lived private life.

ITEM 2000.143 – available for viewing in the Research Centre

Videos, Artworks and Artists Cited

JennicamJennifer Ringley

AnacamAna Voog

Universal Sleep StationAna Voog

Steve Mann

CripplecamPat Quinn

Delicate IssueKate Craig