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Surveillance art is the use of technology intended to record human behavior in a way that offers commentary on the process of surveillance or the technology used to surveil. Surveillance art manifests itself in many different forms, from short films to architecture, but all have been shown to provide some type of critical response to the rise of surveillance by various authorities and the technology used to achieve it, especially when dealing with issues of security and enforcing laws.
Warhol's movie Outer and Inner Space introduced the performance-art possibilities of high-tech surveillance to the modern world. At the same time, it provided the observed subject with the image or knowledge of being observed, in this case the actress Edie Sedgwick. "On the left, Sedgwick's video image, in full profile, gazes off to the right, looking up as if she were talking to someone standing above her. On the right, the 'real' (or 'live') Edie sits in three-quarter profile facing left, addressing someone sitting off-screen to the left of Warhol's movie camera—an arrangement which at times creates the illusion that we are watching Sedgwick in conversation with her own image."Angell, Callie. "Andy Warhol. Outer and Inner Space." CNTRLSPACE. hosting.zkm.de/ctrlspace/e/texts/56 (accessed April 19, 2009).
In the late twentieth century, the AIDS epidemic, cancer rates, and other health concerns created a new form of surveillance. Suddenly, the condition of the human body and potential for contagion became an addition to existing systems of observation.
"The 'my body, my business' ideal in the clinical setting dovetailed with broader societal concerns about snoops, spies, and surveillance, setting the stage for a fundamental recasting of the politics of surveillance in the last decades of the twentieth century. The encounter over HIV represented the high water mark of patient participation in the politics of surveillance. ""H-Net Announcement." Humanities and Social Sciences Net Online. www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=150810 (accessed April 15, 2009).
DeRosa stated: "The national security agencies and their employees are charged with protecting the United States from harm. When faced with a decision about whether to take a step that invades liberties they will not always be able to judge whether it is the only way or the best way to address a problem -- or whether it is simply the easiest way.""Statement of Mary B. DeRosa on FISA for the 21st Century." FAS Intelligence Resource Program. www.fas.org/irp/congress/2006_hr/072606derosa.html (accessed April 19, 2009).
As homeland security issues forced questions of the infringement of civil liberties, the response of various practitioners of surveillance art questioned the notion of privacy. In one of the most notorious cases, the price of innocence and freedom seems to be the willing sacrifice of one's personal privacy.
The case of Hasan Elahi has also addressed new technologies in surveillance: tracking and tracing of cell phones, the capabilities of GPS technology, and worldwide Internet access by both the observer and the observed. The relationship between the watcher and the body watched becomes an impetus to the artwork itself. (2025). 9780822359395, Duke University Press. ISBN 9780822359395 (2025). 9780472073269, University of Michigan Press. ISBN 9780472073269
Elahi has stated of his art: "Both quantitative and qualitative information is incorporated into my work, and the entire process results in translations and mistranslations between the physical and the virtual, between the body politic and the singular citizen. The mutual misunderstandings that inevitably occur provide the inertial energy for the continuing activity and effectiveness of the work."Elahi, Hasan. "Hasan Elahi." Hasan Elahi. http://elahi.sjsu.edu/ (accessed April 23, 2009).
Beyond biometrics is the integration of cybernetic technology into surveillance art. The Canadian filmmaker, Robert Spence, has adapted a miniature camera into his prosthetic eye. In an odd reversal, Spence has finally come full circle with the concept of surveillance art: '"Originally the whole idea was to do a documentary about surveillance. I thought I would become a sort of super hero … fighting for justice against surveillance," Spence said. "In Toronto there are 12,000 cameras. But the strange thing I discovered was that people don't care about the surveillance cameras, they were more concerned about me and my secret camera eye because they feel that is a worse invasion of their privacy."Klint, Finley. "Surveillance." Renegade Futurist. http://renegadefuturist.com/archives/category/surveillance/ (accessed April 19, 2009).
The Surveillance Camera Players (SCP), based in New York City and founded by Bill Brown, are one of the main innovators of this art form. This group of actors stages various plays in public spaces, their first one being Alfred Jarry's "Ubu Roi" on December 10, 1996, at the 14th Street-Union Square Subway station. They have performed other famous works such as Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm. Their plays are staged in very public places such as subway stations, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Washington Square Park, Union Square, and various other landmarks throughout the city. Their primary purpose is to create a public spectacle in order to get people to question the role surveillance plays in their lives. These performances may be witnessed by the public, yet the actual recordings of these performances remain inaccessible. The SCP is said to have been inspired by the anti-surveillance manifesto, "Guerilla Programming of Surveillance Equipment," but state that they were not the first to stage surveillance camera theater."Setting the Stage for the Surveillance Camera Players." NOT BORED!. http://www.notbored.org/gpvse.html (accessed April 19, 2009). They state that it was the invention of comedy writers:
The SCP has a wide following around the world and has even spawned sister groups in Arizona, California, Italy, Lithuania, Sweden, and Turkey suggesting how the issue of surveillance is one which transcends nationalities and cultures, bringing people together to make one synonymous public statement."Surveillance Camera Players." NOT BORED!. http://www.notbored.org/the-scp.html (accessed April 19, 2009). However, they say that although they are flattered that they inspire others, they are rarely impressed by the work that is created. Their complaint is that in the videos that are created, the artists usually end up promoting "several of the primary ideological supports for generalized surveillance."Surveillance Camera Players. "Biting the Hands that Applaud Us." NOT BORED!. http://www.notbored.org/the-scp.html. (accessed April 1, 2009). These works of art fail to connect their audiences to the everyday people who are being watched.
Some architectural surveillance art pieces involve large screen installations or projections on highly visible buildings in populated areas. Artist Christian Moeller's 2006 project, "Nosy," includes a street-level camera which records the active surrounding environment, including pedestrians, cars, and a nearby train in Osaki City, Japan. The real-time video is "displayed in bitmap graphics and onto three towers covered with white LEDs behind frosted glass panels.""A TIME AND PLACE - Christian Moeller." A TIME AND PLACE - Christian Moeller. http://www.christian-moeller.com/display.php?project_id=59&play=true (accessed March 1, 2009).
Artist Camille Utterback created a similar installation in 2007, called "Abundance," using the domed city hall of San Jose, California, as her interactive canvas. The installation includes a large surveillance camera focused on pedestrians and an abstract art animation, projected onto the city hall building. Pedestrians' location and movement within the field of the camera are translated into abstract shapes that appear in the projection. As the pedestrian moves, the corresponding shape moves within the animation and interacts with other shapes in the projection. Utterback's website states, "Movements and paths through the plaza become part of a collective visual record, and transform the building into a playful and dynamic canvas."
The Los Angeles-based artist team, Electroland, has been dedicated to working on interactive art projects."Electroland - Cameron McNall and Damon Seeley - Connection." Electroland –Cameron McNall and Damon Seeley . http://electroland.net/projects/connection (accessed April 14, 2009). Many of their projects are architectural surveillance art through the use of light installations or electronic displays. One of their architectural installations, "Enteractive," uses both the inside and outside of a building in Los Angeles. This project, finished in 2006, involves tracking indoor participants' movements and locations over a large floor light grid. Outside, their real-time locations and movement patterns are broadcast to anyone within view of the colored light grid installed onto the face of the building.
Another of Electroland's projects was incorporated into the Pedestrian Bridge of the Indianapolis Airport in 2008. The project, named "Connection," is made up of light "dots" that cover the length of the bridge, which light up in different colors as people pass through. The colored dots follow people's movements and often interact with participants, "exhibiting a range of intelligent and playful behaviors, accompanied by sounds.""Electroland - Cameron McNall and Damon Seeley - EnterActive." Electroland –Cameron McNall and Damon Seeley . http://electroland.net/projects/enteractive (accessed March 1, 2009). Electroland has similar projects, including Target Breezeway, Lumen, and Drive By."Electroland - Cameron McNall and Damon Seeley - Lumen." Electroland - Cameron McNall and Damon Seeley . http://electroland.net/projects/lumen (accessed April 14, 2009)."Electroland - Cameron McNall and Damon Seeley - Target Breezeway." Electroland -Cameron McNall and Damon Seeley. http://electroland.net/projects/targetbreezeway (accessed April 14, 2009)."Electroland - Cameron McNall and Damon Seeley ." Electroland - Cameron McNall and Damon Seeley . http://electroland.net/about/ (accessed March 1, 2009).
The French art team, Hehe, also works with architectural surveillance art but they prefer to take a "green" approach. Like Electroland, they have also done light installations, like their 2007 project in Luxembourg, "Grandes Lignes." This project includes light installations along a pedestrian footbridge that only light up where a pedestrian is located. Hehe describes the selective lighting as "the personal light sphere, which surrounds the traveler as they move from one end to the other." Hehe explains the intent behind the project: "The responsiveness of the system functions ecologically and economically – saving energy – and also metaphorically: Your shadow – of light – walks with you and follows you.""Grandes Lignes." HeHe. http://hehe.org.free.fr/hehe/grandeslignes/index.html(accessed March 19, 2009).
Hehe has also started a set of projects under the title, "Pollstream," all of which are environmentally-focused. Of these, Nuage Vert, or "green cloud" in English, is architectural surveillance art. The 2008 project uses a thermo-sensitive camera and a laser with a green, cloud-shaped beam. Installed on a nearby building, the beam is projected onto the stream of pollution from a power plant in Helsinki, as a constant reminder to residents of their energy usage."Nuage Vert." HeHe. http://hehe.org.free.fr/hehe/texte/nv/index.html (accessed March 19, 2009). Hehe's focus in this project moves from direct surveillance of people to the surveillance of their factories and plants. Here, humans are being indirectly watched through what they produce, like air pollution. This is potentially the beginning of a move into air surveillance art.
Typical instances of sousveillance as art involve voluntarily recording and broadcasting one's own activities (via webcam, for example). The expressed purpose for this, in some cases, is to take away the value of the knowledge of the artist's whereabouts and current activity. Hasan Elahi, an interdisciplinary media artist who was falsely suspected of terrorism and detained by government authorities, has said that the goal of broadcasting his daily life is to devalue information about him since "Intelligence agencies, regardless of who they are, all operate in a market where their commodity is information, and the reason their information has value is because no one else has access to it."Hasan Elahi, Interview with Stephen Colbert. http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/167606/may-07-2008/hasan-elahi (accessed 23 Apr. 2009) Thus, by increasing access to the information, he is taking away the surveilling authority's monopoly on it.
As the field of surveillance studies has grown with the addition of critical humanities scholarship, treatments of surveillance art have become more frequent.
Inverse surveillance/sousveillance
Inverse surveillance, or "sousveillance", makes use of surveillance technology such as cameras from the perspective of the participant, allowing the object of surveillance essentially to become the subject. The term sousveillance was coined by media artist Steve Mann.
Critical responses
Scholars in the fields of surveillance studies and performance studies have become increasingly interested in interpreting surveillance art. The most comprehensive treatment of surveillance art to date is Elise Morrison's book Discipline and Desire, which provides a valuable compendium of many theater, performance, and art installations focused on surveillance. (2025). 9780472073269, University of Michigan Press. ISBN 9780472073269 Morrison argues that surveillance art is especially effective at pushing audiences to imagine alternatives to oppressive forms of surveillance in society. Aligned scholars have also examined surveillance art performances in great detail but have developed specific criteria for evaluating whether interventions are merely enticing or truly transformative. For instance, James M. Harding has insisted that art should not shy away from affronting viewers and doing physical damage to undermine surveillance-enabled political corruption and police violence. (2025). 9780472130740, University of Michigan Press. ISBN 9780472130740 Torin Monahan has similarly argued that effective anti-surveillance artworks are those that explicitly confront white privilege and disrupt racialized violence and discrimination.
(2025). 9780190297824, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190297824 The journal Surveillance & Society, which publishes academic articles and creative work on surveillance, now offers an "Arts Forum" section and regularly includes pieces on surveillance art. Some publications in the journal have called for greater attention to surveillance art's entertainment capacity and pedagogical affordances; others have explored artworks that hijack pervasive surveillance systems to call attention to issues of privilege, agency, and subjectification; still others use video installations to critique surveillance-driven digital platforms that support precarious "gig" work. Beyond what is published in Surveillance & Society there are also many books that offer overviews—or selective criticisms—of surveillance art. (2025). 9780262621656, MIT Press. ISBN 9780262621656 (2025). 9780822359609, Duke University Press. ISBN 9780822359609 (2025). 9780822359388, Duke University Press. ISBN 9780822359388 Finally, in recognition of the importance of artistic and aesthetic interventions into surveillance, the Surveillance Studies Network (the academic association that publishes Surveillance & Society), has featured plenary panels on surveillance arts at its conferences and has established an Arts prize.
Notable examples
These examples are representative of surveillance art's methods and effects. Although they use different technologies and tactics, they are united by an interest in the increasing prevalence of surveillance in modern society, and its effects on citizens and communities.
(accessed April 23, 2009)
Further reading
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