With surveillance technologies surrounding us – in CCTV, on the web, in our phones, many advances can seem more dystopian than utopian.

How can we turn these technologies on themselves? Can we subvert and play with them, turning them into devices to make art and film from? Can we create devices that render surveillance technology useless? In this series of short films, we see how artists have turned surveillance on its head – converting CCTV into filmmaking equipment, constructing anti-surveillance devices, and turning online surveillance technologies into subversive games and art-making tools.

Artists in the subveillance programme include:

Les Liens Invisibles – an imaginary italy-based duo comprised of Clemete Pestelli and Gionatan Quintini

 Paolo Cirio – a media artist that has worked in various fields from net-art to software art and experimental storytelling

Alessandro Ludovico – editor in chief at www.neural.it

David Valentine – a Writer, Director and Filmmaker interested in the way technology affects society and human behaviour

Image Credit: ‘Video Sniffin’ #1 The Commercial’ – David Valentine / Mediashed