A group of New York activists similarly step up in front of a public camera lens, though one with a very different audience than BBC News. The Surveillance Camera Players perform before the surveillance cameras dispersed throughout New York City’s subway system. Their repertoire includes famous books and plays, such as 1984 and Waiting for Godot, as well as original works such as Headline News and It’s Ok Officer. They choose plays and performances concerned with propaganda, mass behavioral control, and tyranny, and condense them into key scenes that take only a few minutes to perform – just enough to recap their storylines. They use simple props, large placards, and mime to communicate by means of this silent technology. In addition to generating a temporary public spectacle by confronting people on the street, they document their performances and upload videos to the Internet, where they reach a much larger audience. These guerrilla performances subvert the intended purpose of the cameras in order to generate a debate about the use of surveillance, the manner in which it subjugates us to systems of control, and its tacit effect on behavior.
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