..

IiiIl

....
• 1

•
-,­. 2.
-- •••• t» \II

Tactical
., .,

II Cartographies
•
• ...­
..
•• . .f}
rH

landscapes and
of

between
••
.•. e

..• ~

e
of used by
example

terrn tactical, we link

tactical media, an

II. • to art

• ~g};l\~~~;I~ij~· .. social engagement.

I
II •• •
_•
CD •

••••
_

.'.Ie•
.
••
II

.­ arfl to
i.ts origin
include a wide variety

,.
.., ­
.1
of alternative media practices, I In considering the term
•
• we emphaSize its connotations of

.'• .. ~
•
•

At root, tactical media is an interventionist Dractice that

creates
controL a
within eXl::iUUI2
than an
utilizing any and all
aesthetics and methods as dictated by the
II 29
 of a action. 1llctical media are often 2001 (one month
and as long as continue after Spntf'nl the passa.e;e of the
vanish into thin air once their we produced iSee" a website that
has been traces in the form of to contest tbe rise
documentation and accounts. viewers an interactive
it a enabled citizens to identify and avoid New York
media itself is with l"'·.'jTlnl·'l~·..l destabilization surveillance cameras, based on data
rather than transformation. Extendi ng these by New York Civil Liberties {Jnion (NYCLU) and the
.r.
notions to Surveillance Clunera Players.gWith this map, one could CL
l':0)
to the creatioll, use or spalial data produce "routes of least surveillance" thai avoided as
~
C\l
to intervene in cameras as any two o
'iii
Given the Cifcuit .!:'
;;
'TV cameras in New circuitOlls ,"!

work on power relations. routes becanJe sources of both humor and on

Consider of illeoal
"
operations Brazil. Flying acLivists
used cameras and CPS receivers to document an inversion of
the Amazun. The maps and dominant
lo the placing the tools of
Environmental Agency, in turn in the of minority interests. However, farcical
hnndrcds of thousands of in filles and seized also made
boats over Greenpeace insert itself into the very
has conducted similar campaigns Cameroon" and the which public acceptance for
United CPS receivers enable surveillance <c:glllH:::> was secllred. In sense, iSee
activists to achieve l11alclia1 (in the form as a sort of horse to deliver critical content to an
of fines, alld news of
victories over
foes. The activists effectively weaponize Yahoo's "l}avel and
observations into slings and arrows to to New York City, where it has
and Q'overnmental privilege;. continuously since 2001 u

Activists and artists also was initially an exercise in media spectacle. It was
to facilitate resistances, lIledia extended wilh the addition of camera-maooimr work­
spectacles that critical content into the stream of shops in vvhich performed daLa collection
31

 cery camera '''lHUlll!',. If the gTowth of CCTV networks is to be

and other technical details. As we shall see, these vvork­ documented at all, it will only be throueh the effort:.; of
shops the dual work of rendering the
hon of video surveillance audience and
an policing and
like the NYCLU, and
public safety
f()r concerned citizens
The U.S. model and
and
means that there are virtually no public records uf the
across the urban .r;
distribution of surveillance cameras currently n.
:II
American cities. Because the necessary data Ol

~
does not officials cannot answer simple questions like in a new way "md heightening awareness ()'"
"how rnany cameras are there in midtown Manhattan?" 'o"
.;::;
o
Records and ~

are as
communities and
themselves. Because the interests t1mt drive state
and and archival activities do
not include CCTV cameras in their purview, these nearly­
devices do not appear on commercial or 1Il

maps and are not in information of

or

The disconnect betweer of the

and the surveillance that influence daily of status quo.
life grows more as local surveillance As cities and Washington DC
are woven services
city-wide video surveillance programs,
that stream CCTV daLa across the into centralized
efforts to map CCTY networks OIl
the crucial role of
limited to into and
a cameras and control. CCTY
databases awareness and provoking
under the of law enforcemenl and
enabling a citizen science of
This is without in which are monitored and
public discourse or legislative overSight. It is both by the communities purport to serve.
and figuratively "ofT the map," beyond the ken of UlllCldl
can respond to interests
33

 the of cost and efficiency. For [0

111
example, overlaying camera location data with census
value data demonstrates that cameras tend to be
to llsed in
clustered in districts and areas of high economic
recognition of maps as rhetorical
value, even the street .....;"...... . n -:ll~C\ nllrnn.rl-/:::.rl
d"'l£lU

In
to deter
arguments;
more prevalent in
to be cOllsidered.
Such HmDS tbus
.s::
Q
1"Q)
The potential for CCTV maps to re!'ramc public discourse what acknowledging f
(ll

is illustrated by the Boston P()li\.(~ Denartment's 2004 o

(ll

as ()

"0
~

Chinatown residents
were supportive 01 the plan. SorTIe believed that but also about own status as authors of
be an effective crime d( spalial narrative. In povver,

pleased to see Lhe BPD Lake an interest lac tical Lo seC rules

in were of of local evellts

efforts in Chinatown egual to
am ong many
Chinatown

I'vlrKellzjc \Var1<::, ,) I, ()clobl''';

NCH'(,lllllCl

SOlne camera locations

the perception thaL police officials were far more sensitive
La the concerns of Chinatown's business ownerS-llJost of
whom do not live in the than to its working
class residents. In addition to the debates over 7
and discussion within Chinatown began
35
c:

10

II
.... ­.
U
J, I't'iil'licr, "CDnJ('ras
Dr.nls V\/ood ,
i\iol1lliouier
Power
1'r<l,Is, 1:·1 lkccmlwr

(I)

e
"
..... -:.:'-.­
lI.e •• 1 fit
18
..
••
• ... .... I (II •• &
• aJ~

" ••

•••
"­
..
.. "
" - "
• •• •
•
•