REBECCA NAEGELE

Omnidirectional Scanner, 2019
digital c-print
34 x 34 inches

Omnidirectional scanners are increasingly present in consumer sites including chain pharmacies and grocery stores. This visible form of automation introduces new aspects of self-policing and surveillance in everyday consumer spaces. The omnidirectional scanner is designed to read a product barcode at any angle above the scanner bed, allowing an untrained user an effective experience checking out their goods. Eliminating the human cashier depletes working class jobs and human interaction in retail spaces in order to reduce operating costs in the long term. The enlarged photographic print displays the apparatus within the self-checkout counter designed to efficiently read product barcodes: an elaborate construction of mirrors, refracted laser beams and rotating reflective surfaces constitute its machine vision. This up-close document is both seductive and alarming, the red light mimicking both that of a ruby and siren.