Activism Through Art

When I think of activism through art I think of the Surveillance Camera Players or SCP.  My group also presented on the surveillance camera players in class, and I thought that they way they protested was very interesting.  Normally when you think of protests you think of people marching up and down the streets with various signs full of artwork, but the Surveillance Camera Players did something completely different.  The Surveillance Camera Players would put on acts in front of various surveillance cameras in New York City so that people who are watching them can see them.  I also find this interesting that they did this because they had to protest without using any verbal communication since surveillance cameras do not record any sound.  Another thing that they did was put acts on in middle of the street to show people that they are constantly being watched by the surveillance camera players.  The Surveillance Camera Players started their protests after they believed that there privacy was being intruded on by the government with surveillance cameras.  In the various videos that were posted online of the Surveillance Camera Players in action, some of the members are wearing mask to shield their identity while they put on an act that was a based on scenes in a book published by George Orwell called 1984.  This book was basically about a life where the government watches everything that people do and knows everything about everyone.  The government was known as "Big Brother"  The Surveillance Camera Players believed that this was a world that we were starting to live in, and it needed to be changed.  The Surveillance Camera Players were very big back in the day when terrorism was not that much of a threat as it is today.  Basically, after the attacks on September 11, 2001 the Surveillance Camera Players ideology was shot down by the public.

Big Brother is the government

The Surveillance Camera Players was not run by one person but, instead a group of people. This is why they were able act out scenes in front of people or surveillance cameras with multiple people.  One of the acts they did was out in the Streets of New York City where they held up signs of a person that allegedly forgets everything because this person has amnesia, but then they demonstrate how the cameras are watching the person so they will be able to tell him who he/she really is.  These were demonstrated on large pieces of poster board with stick figure drawings, but the fact of the matter is that it was simple but effective.

Surveillance Camera Players performing in the NYC subway

I believe that activism in art is different from political activism because it takes a lot more hard work of getting people to realize the situation through activism through art.  For example the Guerrilla Girls.  The Guerrilla Girls had to work hard to get there point across of what they were protesting because not everyone cared about their point of view. It takes a lot of work to get someone to believe in what you believe in or persuade them to view things from your point of view.  With politics I feel that there are a lot of people that feel the same about issues so it is easier to get people together to protest.  The Guerrilla Girls used various different methods to get people educated about their beliefs.  One example that I think of is when they changed the advertisement on the bus in New York City.
All the groups that took part in activism through art knew that it would be difficult task, but despite this they still never gave up for what they believe in.

Amnesia performance