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Happy Birthday George Orwell, here's your surveillance society

Subverting CCTV with party hats

Gallery Photo: Orwell's birthday
Gallery Photo: Orwell's birthday

To celebrate what would've been George Orwell's 110th birthday, two Dutch artists sought inspiration from perhaps his most famous novel, 1984. The artists took to the streets of the Dutch city of Utrecht to put party hats on CCTV cameras in an attempt to draw attention to the culture of surveillance in modern cities. If we only looked above the stores and billboards that line our streets, say Front404, the artists behind the stunt, we'd realize how many cameras are above us.

George Orwell's birthday party

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"We put party hats on 10 cameras in the city center of Utrecht," says voor t' Hekke, "I think the hats are still there, unless someone really wanted them removed."

All images copyright Front404