Surveillance Chess: Hijacking CCTV Cameras in London: Equipped with an interfering transmitter Mediengruppe Bitnik hacks surveillance cameras in pre-Olympic London and assumes control. The artist collective replaces real-time surveillance images with an invitation to play a game of chess. The security staff’s surveillance monitor located in the control room becomes a game console.

London. On the brink of the Olympic Games. A tube station in one of the most surveilled public spaces in the world. Mediengruppe Bitnik intercepts the signal of a surveillance camera: Business people making their way to the Underground, a man in a suit looking for the right exit. From the left, a woman with a yellow suitcase walks into the frame of the surveillance camera. She opens her suitcase and activates a switch. This is the moment when Bitnik takes over. The CCTV operator experiences total loss of control. The surveillance image drops out, a chess board appears on the surveillance monitor and a voice from the loudspeakers says: “I am controlling your CCTV camera now. I am the one with the
yellow suitcase.” The image jumps back to the woman with the yellow suitcase. Then the image switches to the chess board. “How about a game of chess,” the voice asks. “You are white. I am black. Call me or text me to make your move. This is my number: 07582460851.”

SURVEILLANCE CHESS – THE VIDEO
http://chess.bitnik.org

ABOUT
http://chess.bitnik.org/about.html

EXHIBITION
Zurich, Helmhaus – from 28 July to 9 September 2012

WITH LOVE FROM ZURICH.
!Mediengruppe Bitnik