Paolo Cirio

White Video Visitation Torture
2013
Reproduction of video visitation device, one video channel, online website: www.whitevideovisitationtorture.net

This artwork questions the use of Video Visitation technology introduced in US prisons. The new device is promoted as a general improvement of security and facilitation of remote visiting of inmates. However there has’t been any inquiry on physiological repercussions caused by lowering the quality of human communication through this medium.

The “White Torture” comes originally from Iran, where intellectuals, activists and detainees themselves use the term to refer to the use of incommunicado solitary confinement. To create deprivation of sensorial stimulus the prisoner is isolated with only white uniform, cell, food and basic supply. Carrying out this type of torture makes the detainee lose personal identity through long periods of isolation.