Surveillance in China: artist who hides from security cameras in Beijing wants to highlight invasions of privacy
- For his latest project, artist Deng Yufeng led a group down a Beijing street with the aim of not getting seen on any of its 90-odd surveillance cameras
- China is home to 18 of the world’s 20 most monitored cities and over half the surveillance cameras in use globally, according to a study by one tech website
In 2018, artist Deng Yufeng bought the personal information of 300,000 people in China and displayed it publicly to prove a point about the threat of identity theft. He was questioned by the police and temporarily banned from leaving Wuhan.
Since then Deng, who uses art to critique sensitive topics in China, has wanted to dig into the invasion of privacy there. He sees his work as enlightenment for the public.
His latest project was a performance art piece that saw him lead a group in the capital Beijing down a street that avoided its numerous surveillance cameras, staged as an act of defiance against China’s pervasive surveillance system.
“I’m just an individual. I see a problem and, as I am an artist, I would like to magnify that problem until everybody can see it. I hope they can feel something about it,” he said.
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Beijing artist dodges CCTV cameras for project created in defiance of China’s surveillance system