Ásgeir Fannar Jóhannsson's 'Monitored, Not Seen' Examines Tech and Solitude

Ásgeir Fannar Jóhannsson, an Icelandic artist based in Bergen with a background in healthcare and welfare technology, created the series 'Monitored, Not Seen.' The work follows an elderly woman living alone, supported by security alarms, medication reminders, and monitoring devices. It reveals not the system's efficiency but the silent deterioration around it: memory lapses, loss of balance, fatigue. The series critiques how assistive technology ensures continuity but not presence, leaving emotional needs unresolved. Jóhannsson uses AI-generated imagery with a restrained palette of gray-blues and muted beiges, avoiding spectacle. The project draws comparisons to Jeff Wall's narrative precision and Michael Haneke's film 'Amour,' but shifts the focus to technologically managed aging. The final image—an empty room with the alarm still present—underscores the thesis: the system remains, the person has faded. The series is featured in creAtIva AI Art Book Vol/9 'ART: it is argument.'