Video Sniffin’

Everywhere we go today CCTV cameras are watching us. They have become so common that we ignore their presence. Who is watching us? Why? What do the cameras see? How is this information interpreted? The MediaShed decided to answer some of these questions with some direct action. By taking over the CCTV networks the technology can be freed from its usual applications of security. Instead of a process of control, there can be a process of freedom.

The MediaShed decided to make use of the CCTV networks readily available within the environment as way of making films. By hacking and hijacking the cameras the MediaShed can create its very own television studio within buildings, shopping centres or the streets of any town. Thereby eliminating the need for expensive cameras – all that is required is a way into the system and a recording device.

The term video ‘Video Sniffing’ comes from the practice of picking up signals broadcast by wireless CCTV networks using a cheap video receiver (aka War Spying). The MediaShed has adopted this term as Video Sniffin’ and extended it to include hard-wired systems and other ways of playing with CCTV technologies. To find out more click on the project links below: