Tracking Transience

Artist Hasan Elahi will describe his experiences with FBI interrogation and his subsequent creative projects in his lecture, "Tracking Transience: The Orwell Project," along with other recent works as part of MITH's Digital Dialogues series. After an erroneous tip called into law enforcement authorities in 2002, Elahi was subjected to an intensive post 9-11 investigation by the FBI. After undergoing six months of interrogations and nine consecutive lie-detector tests, he was cleared of suspicions. After this harrowing experience, Elahi conceived "Tracking Transience", a self-tracking system that constantly and publicly presents his exact location, activities, and other personal data. This self-surveillance project is a critique of contemporary investigative techniques and provides an ongoing "alibi" for Elahi in the event of future accusations.