Orwell’s Birthday Party (2013)

On the 25th of June 2013 we decorated many of the surveillance cameras in the center of the city of Utrecht with colorful party hats, to celebrate the 110th birthday of George Orwell!

George Orwell, aka Eric Arthur Blair, is best known for his book ‘1984’, in which he describes a dystopian future society where the populace is constantly watched by the surveillance state of Big Brother.

By putting these happy party hats on the surveillance cameras we don’t just celebrate Orwell’s birthday and his prophetic visions of our future. By making these inconspicuous cameras, that we ignore in our daily lives, catch the eye again we also create awareness of how many cameras really watch us nowadays, and that the surveillance state described by Orwell is getting closer and closer to reality.

Two of the photographs below can be bought as prints, here and here.