Who Watches The Watchers
Stained Glass
30 Pannels 58x36 ea. (147x91 cm)
2021

Who Watches The Watchers is an intervention in response to the architecture of the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto. The work uses stained glass, a material often found in spaces designed for reflection, to wrap the glass-fronted walkway of the museum’s second floor. The panels are based on architectural blueprints and landscape templates—the kind used to standardize modernist design—rather than on the religious imagery often associated with stained glass. As visitors pass through the space, the shifting play of light through the blue glass creates a serene, otherworldly environment while also hinting at the surveillance and control systems that museums use to protect their collections. Because the work is embedded within the building’s physical architecture, it suggests the range of infrastructural technology that museums rely upon but typically hide from view.

Photography:
Toni Hafkenscheid