Jeroen Zwaap

Spider is my alter ego; an isolated persona with an existential desire to look without being seen. Spider uses openly accessible webcams to explore hidden narratives that unfold in ordinary and mundane. To reside in the human and not so human spheres as a ghostly presence. Out of this practice three works came.

The Watcher Within (film):

 The Watcher Within is a non-narrative film. The works shows footage from my archives of hidden closed-circuit television cameras. The found footage is being presented as a poetic yet alienating cinematic film that explores the role of the internet gaze in our public and private spaces. In this dance of observation, spaces come alive, charged with meanings and emotions that transcend their physical dimensions. The home, the office, the store—each becomes more than a mere location, more than just a setting for human activity. They become living entities and intimate theatres of the infra-ordinary, absorbing and reflecting the spectrum of human experiences. Using found camera footage as a cinematic tool that appeals to the human desire to look, the work wishes to subvert surveillance technology into a medium for artistic and personal expression. The work seduces the audience to engage with the power dynamics of voyeurism through cinema. In fact, the work wants to make the audience complicit in looking and fictionalizing, turning our spaces into decors and us into the actors of our lives.

The Watcher Within (trailer)

3 men, 2 dogs, 1 car (publication):

A mystery unfolds in a snowy industrial landscape with three men, two dogs, and one car. As Russia just entered war with Ukrain, I explored the unseen corners of its public life, captured and archived via the third largest surveillance network in the world. Using tools like Google Earth and Streetview, this photobook showcases captivating images and invites readers to examine and interpret the scenes, pushing the boundaries of traditional reportage. A digital exploration into the heart of a moment captured on March 2, 2022, at 10 pm.

Spirit & Machine, the curious case of Spider’s transformation into a digital ghost (research paper)

Using a fictional story as a tool, the paper follows the journey of the voyeur Spider, who becomes trapped in their own desires and seeks the help of retired psychoanalyst Nachtdonker.

Geest&Machine (flip-through-movie)