500 years of a bad idea


Are all Americans arrogant, egotistical, meglomaniacal, Christian fundamentalist, culturally philistine war-mongers? No, naturally not all of them. So, when one speaks of anti-Americanism, it isn't of form of racism. Nor it is racist to point out that, for a long time, the phrase "Friends from the USA" has been meaningless. It is more subtle than that.

We are presented with the good Americans in the art show at Hall 14 of the [former] Spinning Factory [...]

The New York City Surveillance Camera Players appear to be socialy engaged. They broadcast messages to surveillance cameras in Manhattan and Brooklyn -- and in Leipzig as well. They stage theatrical actions using printed placards ("I'm just going to work" or "I have amnesia") that suggest that, in principle, surveillance is acceptable, provided that it is not directed at irreproachable people. And so the Camera Players greatly underestimate the problem. Surveillance and police-state restrictions enjoy great popularity in Germany.

(Writer unknown. Review of Get Rid of Yourself exhibition in Leipzig. Published September 2003 by Incipito and translated from the German by Bill Brown.)




Contact the New York Surveillance Camera Players

By e-mail SCP@notbored.org

By snail mail: SCP c/o NOT BORED! POB 1115, Stuyvesant Station, New York City 10009-9998




NOT BORED!