In July 2006, Ms. Mary DeRosa, a Senior Fellow of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, testified at a congressional hearing on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
At this point, different organizations within the United States government had been applying separate acts to monitor perceived threats of foreign agents, sometimes at cross-purposes and with varying degrees of rights violation.
[6][7] 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.
New forms of biometric surveillance—such as heart rate monitors, and facial recognition software—are being utilized for personalized experiences and amusement park rides.
Using an array of local residents and actors, scenes included a marathon, a parade, a garage band practice, firemen rescuing a cat, and a sword fight.
[12][13] 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.
[14] They have performed other famous works such as Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven, George Orwell’s "1984" and Animal Farm.
[15] They state that it was the invention of comedy writers: Properly speaking, surveillance camera theater was invented by a comedy writer, not a privacy advocate or a performance artist: i.e., the person(s) who in 1981 wrote the "On the Job" episode of the American TV sit-com Taxi, in which Alex Reiger (played by Judd Hirsch) temporarily gets a job as a camera-watching security guard.
(In June 1996, a skit called "Security Camera Theatre" aired on Late Night with David Letterman, but we haven't been able to see it or to find a synopsis of it.
)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.
Some architectural surveillance art pieces involve large screen installations or projections on highly visible buildings in populated areas.
"[20] 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.
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 colored dots follow people's movements and often interact with participants, "exhibit[ing] a range of intelligent and playful behaviors, accompanied by sounds.
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.
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.
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.
[31] Torin Monahan has similarly argued that effective anti-surveillance artworks are those that explicitly confront white privilege and disrupt racialized violence and discrimination.
Some publications in the journal have called for greater attention to surveillance art's entertainment capacity[36] and pedagogical affordances;[37] others have explored artworks that hijack pervasive surveillance systems to call attention to issues of privilege, agency, and subjectification;[38][39] still others use video installations to critique surveillance-driven digital platforms that support precarious “gig” work.