"He who is subjected to a field of visibility, and who knows it, assumes responsibility for the constraints of power; he makes them play spontaneously upon himself; he inscribes in himself the power relation in which he simultaneously plays both roles; he becomes the principle of his own subjection." Michel Foucault in Discipline and Punishment.
Montreal-based artist Daniel Olson’s “Fifteen Seconds” was developed for the second CAFKA exhibition, CAFKA.02: Power to the People, and presented in the Kitchener Civic Square (now Carl Zehr Square) on September 21, 2002 in front of the Kitchener City Hall. In “Fifteen Seconds” Daniel Olson, positioned in an elevated watchtower uses a high-powered follow-spot light to seek out subjects and linger on them for, as the title of the piece proposes, approximately fifteen seconds.
In his proposal he wrote:
"Almost everyone is familiar with Andy Warhol's famous dictum from the sixties: "In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes." Now that we're into the next century, and Andy's been dead for almost fifteen years, I wonder how many people believe his prediction will ever come true. Still, we do live in an age of sensationalism — that much I think would be widely accepted — in which there seems to be no end to our fascination with fame and glamour.
With this in mind I propose to give people in Kitchener-Waterloo their brief moment in the spotlight. I would like to construct a small tower — in a style reminiscent of a guard tower in the language of films (think prison breaks, concentration camps, Berlin Wall, POW camps) — on the plaza of City Hall, outfitted with a working theatre follow spot.
On the evening of the exhibition opening I would position myself in the tower and follow selected people with the spotlight as they make their way in and out of the building. In this performance, everyone would have the opportunity to quite literally have their moment in the spotlight — even if it is closer to fifteen seconds than minutes — so be sure to wear your best outfit to these gala events."
Regarding the performance the artist stated, "In this performance everyone is offered the chance to have their moment of fame, as they make their grand entrances and exits." CAFKA Artistic Co-ordinator Andrew Wright wrote, ". . . the tower was simultaneously a watch tower, a fire tower, and a prison camp . . . the spotlight became surveillance, rescue, restriction, and of course, fame. But it was ever so fleeting—one movement and it was gone. We move instantly from one narrative to another and back and forth from the moments of other places, other works, characters, and back to the world of Olson in his perch, in Civic Square, at City Hall, 'directing' the spotlight."
In 2008 Gordon Hatt curated Zone A for Nuit Blanche, Toronto, and invited the artist to reprise “Fifteen Seconds” in Dundas Square.The 2008 performance took place over the course of 12 hours, from 7 PM to 7 AM before thousands of people. The artist invited friends and colleagues to take turns operating the follow-spot in the tower over the course of the evening.
Although these two performances re-create the same action they have two very distinct scenarios. During CAFKA the plaza was rather empty and the follow-spot appears to underline the isolation the individuals find themselves in. During Nuit Blanche the spotlight isolates individuals within the large crowd, in a "winning" moment of recogntion.
Photography Credits for CAFKA Images: Elisabeth Feryn
Photography and Video Credits for Nuit Blanche Images: Dean Vargas
Thanks to Bill Kirby at the CCCA and special thanks to Daniel Olson