Front404 Puts Party Hats on Spy Cams for Orwell’s Birthday
July 2nd, 2013
We are truly living in the age of George Orwell. His book Nineteen Eighty-Four, in particular, has a prophetic quality, considering that it was written in the early 20th century yet describes events that could take place in today’s news headlines. In a day and age in which the National Security Agency logs and records everyone’s phone records and email communications, one could argue that Orwell’s dystopian future is already here.
June 25th is the anniversary of George Orwell’s birthday, and a visual arts group called Front404 decided to symbolically celebrate the occasion this year by putting party hats on public security cameras throughout Utrecht in the Netherlands. However, this wasn’t just a festive event, but an attempt to raise awareness to the recent shift towards the implementation of police state tactics by governments worldwide. Is the dystopian future described in Nineteen Eighty-Four already at hand?
The NSA Scandal Caused Nineteen Eighty-Four Sales to Skyrocket
After whistleblower and Rebel of the Week winner Edward Snowden revealed that the National Security Agency has been spying on, not only the private communications of Americans, but people around the world, sales of Nineteen Eighty-Four shot up exponentially. One presumes that many are now re-reading the classic and making comparisons to the present day.
Meanwhile, the book is getting a Hollywood remake on the big screen courtesy of Ron Howard. Unfortunately for Orwell, he passed away shortly after he wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four and thus missed out on the decades during which most of the world began imitating his fictional writings. George Orwell is one of the best-selling writers of the 20th century.
Front404 Were Protesting the Surveillance State
Front404 published the following statement along with the pictures of the party hat installations, “On Tuesday the 25th of June, to celebrate the 110th birthday of George Orwell, surveillance cameras in the center of the city of Utrecht were decorated with colorful party hats! George Orwell is best known for his book 1984, in which he describes a dystopian future society where the populace is constantly watched by the surveillance state of Big Brother. By putting these happy party hats on the surveillance cameras we don’t just celebrate Orwell’s birthday. By making these inconspicuous cameras that we ignore in our daily lives catch the eye again we also create awareness of how many cameras really watch us nowadays, and that the surveillance state described by Orwell is getting closer and closer to reality.”
The cheery nature of the party hats served as a stark, eye-catching contrast to the cold and violating nature of the equipment used to monitor the behavior of innocent people. Silly protests like these capture the attention of politically inactive folks that would otherwise be offended by the angrier themes that are often used to express these types of points. Kudos to Front404 for enhancing the international conversation on privacy by making this witty, fun, and edgy visual art installation.
Silver Circle is showing now on Video on Demand platforms! Check it out on our watch online page and find out about local theater showings of the film and other special events on our -->event page -->.
