"Through the Looking Glass: Surveillance, Resistance and the Recreation of Workplace Identity"

We investigate how a work of art that surveilles, records and reflects workplace interactions affects group processes and identity. We conduct qualitative fieldwork in the gallery where the artwork is displayed both in the exhibition space and in the director’s office. Revealing the expected disciplinary power of the artwork, the work threatens staff members with a gaze that is in turn visible to all, and so serves as a disciplining power that affects the individual staff member’s identity both directly and through its influence on group processes. In addition, however, the shared experience of threatened self image amongst the gallery staff led to a resistance strategy of positive mutual regard that proves emancipatory.