Gatekeeper is a video installation piece that was first shown in an autonomous artist takeover.

It was a politically charged time and the building had an institutional history. The space was buzzing, but there was also some paranoia in the air. Police eventually stationed themselves at the doors and cut off entry.

The audience were amused and also a little spooked by the CCTV cameras on this piece. Someone turned them away. I was told a couple of people felt pissed off about feeling watched.

The piece features a mysterious femme character luring you towards her with cookies. She has long white hair, a silver gown, silver tree branches wrapped around her shoulders, and a spiky silver headpiece that covers her eyes.

Make up your own mind about what she has to say. In my mind, she represents the ritual of entering an online space. I use the word 'ritual' intentionally but loosely here. Like the morning ritual of making a coffee. Or the ritual of signing a contract when starting a job.

The piece explores themes of data collection and tracking, where consent is often assumed.

When you click 'accept', you are often telling websites 'I consent to you collecting and selling information about me.' Your data is sometimes sold to the highest bidder and used to build profiles on who you are and what you like. This goes towards targeted adverts. I am not here to be a doomer about this, but I did want the piece to highlight that a click is not a neutral act.

The piece asks: What are cookies, and where do they go? I've been told it's not that deep, but I've remained curious.

Gatekeeper sought to make invisible tracking visible with the overt use of CCTV cameras on the installation.