SIGNE PIERCE

'IN WHICH OUR BIG SISTER ADDRESSES THE ELEPHANT IN THE WOUND': A CONFRONTATION TOWARDS THE DESECRATION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION AND THE END OF PRIVACY AS WE KNOW IT

2023

'In Which Our Big Sister Addresses The Elephant In The Wound: A Confrontation Towards the Desecration of Personal Information and the End of Privacy As We Know It' is a performance + video by reality artist, Signe Pierce.

The short film sees the artist reprising the role of her alter ego, Big Sister. Big Sister has been a re-occurring character in Pierce's work since her inception in 2016. She exists as a personification of feminine sousveillance, a dualistic match to the Orwellian constructs of Big Brother. A high femme data domme who gets off on "objectifying you, objectifying me".

In this work, Big Sister is in the "privacy" of her own bedroom, confronting the lack thereof. It is a candid and unscripted conversation in which Pierce/Big Sister (they one and the same) initiates a seductive conversation with any and all of the various trackers which may be recording, preying, and surveying her through her cameras, computers and devices at any given moment. In this piece, we find Big Sister operating from a state of soft negotiation. "I just want to understand".

"We have reached an era in our technological development where we really have no idea who or what is collecting our data at any given time. Privacy is a fallacy which no longer exists. I've watched as my diary entries are mined for targeted ads, and my private encounters become passing fads I wanted to speak to this experience, by speaking TO the unknown surveillance corporate culture which lives inside my home". - Signe Pierce