03. A Phenomenology of Shoplifting ︎︎︎
See-Saw 2: Difference2020
Amazon Go promises a future of “friction-less” shopping where transactions are seamlessly completed by simply picking up an item, placing it in your bag, and walking out the store. This purported convenience belies the fundamental awkwardness of performing an action that years of shopping has conditioned us to avoid. This awkwardness is further compounded when we think of the vast network of surveillance and algorithmic imperfections that make the translation of gesture to transaction possible. This essay looks at how Amazon Go disrupts and reorganizes a spatial, technical, and racial body schema through their enticing yet troubling algorithmic gaze.
