Fear Filter: Visualising the UK Terror Threat Level

Abstract

This statement explores the digital photo artwork Fear Filter which uses the UK Terror Threat Level as a source for a set of visualisation tools. It argues that the UK Terror Threat Level should be understood as part of the expansion of a range of security measures during the initial stages of the ‘War on Terror’, many of which seem to be more focused on the production of fear and the performance of security than actually improving security. It positions the artwork, Fear Filter, as offering a critical window onto these processes and putting them to creative use in devising a new configuration between photography, terror and security.