"Lyric" by Danny Giles

Initiated in the Summer of 2003 as a means to curb street-level violence, the Chicago Police Department’s Police Observation Device (POD) program has been utilized as a tactic in neighborhood policing ever since. These devices, originally brandishing the Chicago Police official seal, feature cameras capable of capturing footage and communicating data in real time. While the CPD claims these devices effective in curbing street crime, civil liberties advocates like the ACLU argue that, not only is it unclear how effective PODs actually are in stopping crime, but these panoptic devices might also pose serious threats to our rights to privacy from government surveillance ensured by the constitution.*

“Lyric” is an immersive, participatory performance/installation work that asks the audience to consider a revolt against the condition of mass surveillance in the form of a dance party. Participants help create a space of uncertain identity, dancing to the sound of their own music on headphones within a darkened space, lit by the flashing lights of a full-scale replica of a CPD POD. In the manner of a “dance marathon”, participants will dance continuously for as long as they like/can. Participants in “Lyric” further challenge the relationship of “observer” and “observed” through their own documentation of the performance. Several phones connected to a live stream will send real-time footage of the performance to a projector in the space, suggesting an alternative relationship to surveillance imbued with the agency of the individual participant.

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