Mumbai-based art collective CAMP uses technologies like surveillance CCTV cameras, mobile phones, drones, digital platforms, broadcasting and video to empower communities. Instead of letting the tools be used for control, they are repurposed to support activism and community action.
Now CAMP’s work is on view at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) running through July 20th. Titled "Video After Video: The Critical Media of CAMP," the show features three projects that trace how the collective is democratizing surveillance technology.
For their film “From Gulf to Gulf to Gulf (2014)“ CAMP collaborated for 4 years with sailors who were navigating trade routes across the Indian Ocean. Equipped with their mobile phones they captured everyday-life on board. The footage was shared with the artists via Bluetooth and transformed into a documentary film, telling the often overlooked stories about informal trade, its traditional sailors and their networks, shining a light on globalization, labor, and migration through the lens of those affected by it.
Other works on display are the video installations Khirkeeyaan (meaning "Windows" in Hindi) and “Bombay Tilts Down” both posing questions surrounding surveillance and voyeurism. For Khirkeeyaan CAMP installed CCTV cameras (Closed-Circuit Television) to household TV’s in people’s living rooms from New Delhi’s Khirkee Extension enabling the families to communicate with each other turning a surveillance technology into a tool for connection among neighbours.
Bombay Tilts Down used a high-resolution surveillance CCTV camera, filming the city of Mumbai from the 35th floor with a range up to 15 kilometres using the device to offer a different perspective. People could view the camera's stream downstairs and even control its movements, calling the shots.
Another key aspect of CAMP’s work is the creation of extensive online video archives, freely accessible to the public, often featuring footage excluded from the final artwork.The artist’s see these online archives as crucial for the access to information and to foster creative projects.
