Art: Prague Street Art, 2011
An unknown artist created this street art in the Czech Republic's capital city, seemingly sharing much of the sentiment that drives the work of the United Kingdom's foremost street artist, Banksy. Though no one has taken credit, it has been suggested it may be the work of David Černý, a well-known Czech sculptor and artist whose work is frequently controversial, perhaps the most notable of which was his "Entropa" installation, commissioned by the Czech Republic in honor of its turn to oversee the European Union's council.
"Entropa" was supposed to be a collaborative work of 27 artists from countries throughout the European Union; instead, Černý and three assistants created the entire installation, which consisted of representations of each member country of the EU. Needless to say, the depictions where less than flattering.
I've written here before about the growth of Orwellian closed circuit surveillance camera networks utilized by nation states aboard; most famous, of course, is the United Kingdom, whose government still refuses to reveal the number of cameras installed through England, Ireland and Scotland. San Francisco-based Cisco Systems is helping the Chinese government to erect a network of surveillance cameras to monitor their populace.
Surprisingly, camera surveillance is seen rather sparingly in the United States, relegated to vast metropolitan areas such as New York and Chicago, but will likely increase; similarly, the use of closed circuit surveillance cameras is increasing throughout Latin America.
