Creative Surveillance
In Manchester, a local band has utilized the Big Brother era to overcome the financial burden of music videos. As an unsigned band, The Get Out Clause, wanted to create an impressive video without having to pony up for the proper crew and equipment. In order to do this they thought of an unintended use for the Freedom of Information Act.
With 13 million surveillance cameras on the streets of Manchester it wasn’t difficult for them to find appropriate, or inappropriate locations for that matter, to collect footage of their music.
This may not be an attempt to mock the absurdity of surveillance, like many others have been known to do in London, but it does use that system in a rather absurd manner. I’m fascinated by these clever, public acts that serve as a commentary on the current and social political system.
I also bring this up because I have been particularly irked by surveillance lately in New York. Last week the NYPD installed one of their Skywatch towers in South Harlem. Some attribute it to the development of two new luxury condos at the intersection, but the NYPD claims its a direct result of a rise in murders. Potentially both, however, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a phone call made by one or both developers.
[Image: One of NYPD’s Skywatch towers in use. Courtesy of razorapple.]
I find this overly oppressive as a means of maintaining public safety. This is not to suggest that I find public safety a trivial matter, but I find this tower to be more appropriate for a prison than the public domain. The streets of a city are the most public space that people have access to.
On one hand it serves as a deterrent and keeps people off the streets in this location, thereby rendering the likelihood of criminal activity improbable. On the other hand, it takes away that public right of the people that use the streets. Even if in an indirect way, the presence of these towers changes the public realm.
I will acknowledge that New York City has a finer line to walk between public safety and maintaining the true nature of the public domain, but when the NYPD is on track for a record number of people they stop and frisk, then I think they are toeing the wrong side of that line.
Thus, I want to point out this creative use of surveillance as a potential means for taking back our streets for the public.
Article
The Get Out Clause, The Telegraph
via Supercolossal
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