Filed under: ID Cards / Surveillance
An interesting little web article on how art is making use of techniques employed by our modern panoptical surveillance state. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6564115.stm I would however suggest that using surveillance techniques in art still for the time being a subversive element to it. Unless it is a car advert which adopts this technique in order to boast that we (In Briton) are caught on camera over 300 times a day. This is of course advertising, which is something that shouldn’t be confused as a form of art. It is all to easy to imagine how things which appear like art may seduce us into a complacent attitude to surveillance.We should however exam the context of the individual piece of work. A work that uses CCTV to record subversive direct action and then uses the Data Protection Act to reclaim the footage is clever. It plays on people’s minds and shows them the extent to which their daily lives are tracked. It also undermines the authoritarian image of the big brother CCTV, which is the mocking attitude needed to de-value the message of the fear-mongers who play to our need for security. Personally I feel that any form of culture that allows people to think about surveillance outside of the dominant security/fear praxis is useful for exploring alternatives ways in living without invasive intrusion.
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Disillusioned Discordian 
Hmmm, surveillance as art. It’s a wierd meme if it were anonymosed (possible) I might not find it too objectionable. Depends on the way it is used and ther artistic merit I guess.
Comment by geeklawyer April 20, 2007 @ 9:06 pm