The Rabbit Hole of Surveillance

For a while I lived in London. I don’t anymore, but it has messed with my head. In some good ways, but some also not so much. I expect to be surveilled nearly everywhere I go. On street level, in public places, through cameras. I am not anymore, but the feeling stays. Which is particularly weird for me, because I never really got what it was all about. Intelligence gathering, deterrence or just the plain good old capitalism? The cameras don’t seem to make a good job for any of these cases, but so often when something happens, the call for them goes out. Apparently we are monitored for our safety and security, but how the cameras are supposed to do either of those, I still have not found a good answer to.

As a response to my first shock in London, I started writing, drawing and got drawn into the rabbit hole of surveillance: Adventures in CCTVland was born.

This little zine features reflections on my adventures counting CCTV cameras for a week and wondering what the heck they did to me. But the topic never let me go and a second issue was born:

In this zine, things get much more speculative and exploratory with drawings, poems and speculative fictions.

I hope the journey does not end here. I would like to put together a third issue of CCTVland and would love to hear from you. Reflections, experiences, fiction — you name it. Some questions I have might be:

• How does street level surveillance affect you?
• How you think the situation will develop in future?
• What alternative measures could you imagine being taken and how would it affect everyone?
• Where is the line we should not cross?

I am sure you have many more things to say and I’d love to hear about them. Get in touch via info[at]brifrischu(dot)de and let’s talk! This is also the best way to contact me for a zine swap, if that is your thing. You can also head over to my etsy shop if you are interested in a copy: https://www.etsy.com/de/shop/brifrischu