In Trespass Act, Thomas Kneubühler uses the figure of the security guard to both flesh out his luminescent “Office Building” series of photographs and provide critical commentary on the notion of private property. Kneubühler combined three of his series to make this whole, but it works, as it gives the works dimension—narrative, even.

The first series, “Office 2000,” is a suite of exterior shots of office buildings at night. The lights, left on over night, expose the interior office spaces, seeming to permeate the glass and peer into the cubicles with stunning clarity.

The “Private Property” series gets closer to the subject matter. Exterior shots of an empty parking lot at night, on the periphery of an industrial complex set a tone of isolation and obscurity. The lots, largely empty, are over-lit by the overhead fluorescent lights. Lone security cars sit in the lots, watching over the few remaining vehicles, or trailing the odd stray that wanders onto the property. Kneubühler introduces the audience to the security guard as well—men who stand, straight up, taking over the frame of the photograph, but who uniformly have an uneasiness in their faces. We also get a look inside a control room, where guards work most of the time, and are largely isolated from other people.

The third series is “Access Denied,” a series of photographs of security guards inside their workplaces. Three of the works have been kept in the gallery, while four others have been printed on large-scale banners and hung on buildings around the downtown core. The one located outside Latitude 53 has been splashed with brown paint, a response from a passerby during the exhibition’s original installation in Montréal. The other banners are on the ARTery and the Red Strap building in east downtown.

As a public installation, they manage to challenge the notion of personal freedom while also being slightly pathetic. The guards stand alone, in a fluorescent-lit hallway, with slight slack-jaw expressions on their faces. They are 13-feet high, obviously out of place, yet their confrontational stance and uniform still have the power to evoke the negative feeling associated with these roles, as witnessed by the throwing of paint onto one of the works. Without a context—the works are displayed without a title card or logo to tell passersby what they are for—the image instantly evokes a sense of distrust and suspicion, in spite of the fact that, in the areas the works are displayed, surveillance cameras are in high use and go almost unnoticed by patrons and pedestrians.

Inside the gallery, the images are less confrontational, more introspective. While a security guard at 13 feet looks intimidating, the security guards as moderate-sized prints look more lonely than anything. In the same stance, there is more of a chance to look over their faces and take in their surroundings. Up close, they are more personable; amidst the waxed linoleum floors and fluorescent lights, they are just filling a duty, doing their job. Whether or not they agree with it seems to be a secondary concern.

By pairing his security guards with his images of buildings and parking lots, Kneubühler is making a pointed statement about the nightlife of these workspaces. The isolation and burden of quiet is overwhelmingly apparent in Kneubühler’s work. The notion of privatized security—the security guard, the chain link fence, the surveillance camera—all serve the purpose of protecting the buildings and parking lots Kneubühler shows lit up and empty. All of these security measures around the site protect the property, but also create more curiosity about it. The respect for the site is diminished by our observation that there is nothing there, and the presence of aggressive, assumed authority draws attention to over-zealous enforcement of property owners’ rights.

While the sites on Kneubühler’s images are crisp and clean, he doesn’t show the areas around these sites. The private spaces are monitored, but what about the spaces just outside the front doors of the office buildings, or across the street? What about the land just outside the chainlink fence? If there were a problem outside the buildings, would it get the same care and attention?

Kneubühler is questioning our libertarian politics in North America. Though the question of the rights of the property owner over the rights of the community may not be a glamourous one, it continues to arise, as questions of ecology and community engagement become more of a public concern. V

Until Sat, Sept 5
Trespass Act
Works by Thomas Kneubühler
Latitude 53 (10248 - 106 St)