Broken Channel was commisioned and curated by Futuresonic in Manchester, UK and supported by the Arts Council of England. The CD/DVD was released by C0C0S0L1DC1T1.

The Broken Channel works premiered at the Futuresonic 2002 festival in Manchester, UK and toured to the following venues:

Cube Cinema in Bristol, UK, 2004
FEED festival/Capsule in Birmingham, UK, 2004
Hive in Livepool, UK, 2004

Noises of Dissent and Visions From the Shattered Lens of CCTV and Surveillance
By Drew Hemment

Broken Channel looks at the contemporary experience of surveillance, seeking to decode the transmissions and explore the disembodied aesthetics of individuals reduced to spectres flickering across screens, or to highlight how control mechanisms can be disrupted or refunctioned.

'Vigilare' by Kaffe Matthews (Annette Works) and Riz Maslen (Big Orange Cat Music/www.neotropic.net) explores how CCTV footage can be reclaimed, disrupting the linear flow of information to open up alternative perceptual spaces. The silent video was shaped and moulded along with a heap of sonic improvisations to look again at public space and to reveal the personal and private spaces we think we find within them. From harsh impersonal images, a hidden chest of life and humour was revealed.

'Thee I is our mirror v0.5', work-in-progress by Coldcut and Outer Bongolia, looks at the police's monitoring of protest and protestors, and the Non Violent Direct Action movement's responses to video surveillance. The piece focuses on actions and reactions from disparate members of the Surveilled Society, clips from forced evictions, free street parties plus an improv performance given by the New York-based Surveillance Camera Players.

'Imperial Beach' (Sistema de valor No. 8) by Los Angeles artist/activist collective Ultra-red (FatCat/mille plateaux) is a portrait of the April 2001 protests against the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City and the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). It explores the surveillance of the multitude, as well as how the video and internet become powerful tools for grass-roots organisation and autonomous global communication, in this case between Quebec and demonstrators who came out in solidarity on both sides of the US/Mexico border in Tijuana (the site of some of the most extreme surveillance in the world).

'Aprotic' by Battery Operated + Made (C0C0S0L1DC1T1/Skam) uses self recorded sound and video footage taken in heavily surveilled architectures such as casino’s, hotels and superstores to make new audio and video environments. The project is the second part of Battery Operated’s exploration into the way in which muzak is used in these types of spaces to influence psychological states and movements.

Surveillance is no longer the exceptional fate of the few, a state sanction requiring an extensive network of agents, or requiring the covert installation of costly and sophisticated, specialist instruments. It is now a mundane aspect of everyday existence, operating through every credit card transaction and border crossing, every time a store card is used or a mobile phone switched on. There is a long tradition of artists exploring or intervening in control mechanisms such as surveillance, and at a time when pervasive surveillance is widely accepted, and the popularity of webcams and reality TV suggest that fear and suspicion of surveillance is giving way to a desire to observe and be observed, the Broken Channel projects seek to offer new visions of how surveillance shapes perception, and new strategies for how to intervene.

Still images from 'Broken Channel' video works:

Image by Beewoo

Image by Outerbongolia

Image by Jenny Marketou

Image by Riz Maslen

Image by Ultra Red