HOMELAND IS NOT A SERIES
2015
graffiti hack, video
In July 2015 “The Arabian Street Artists” engineered a graffiti media hack by incorporating subversive graffiti on the set of the popular US TV series ‘Homeland’. Three months later episode 2 of season 5 was broadcast with the show unknowingly critiquing itself. After the story broke it went viral and was reported by media all over the world.
Heba Amin, Caram Kapp and Don Karl collectively adopted the ironic name “The Arabian Street Artists” from email communication between them and the ‘Homeland’ crew. Their filmic commentary ‘Homeland is Not a Series’, produced by Laura Poitras (Citizenfour) at Field of Vision, explores dialogues following the worldwide resonance of the critique that motivated the hack.
RELATED TEXT
Amin, Heba Y. et al. “Political Protest Not for Sale! Why the Homeland Hack is not a Commodity”. Open Democracy, 21 Jan. 2019, https://www.opendemocracy.net/north-africa-west-asia/arabian-street-artists/political-protest-not-for-sale?fbclid=IwAR23Mco75ytPtysreRV-pi8SKQSzy_bpco9NK51wYGEPUaX8WoZBGXty5mE.
Iskandar, Adel. “Status Audio Journal.” Art as Interruption: On "Homeland," Revolutionary Utterances, and Surveillance, 20 Feb. 2016, www.statushour.com/en/Interview/73.
Hynes, Eric. “Interview with Heba Yehia Amin, Caram Kapp, and Don Karl of Homeland Is Not a Series.” Field of Vision, 20 Dec. 2015, fieldofvision.org/interview-with-heba-yehia-amin-caram-kapp-and-don-karl-of-homeland-is-not-a-series.
Abraham, Stephanie. “Homeland Hacker Challenges Media Portrayals of Muslims.” Paris Attacks, Al Jazeera, 19 Nov. 2015, www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/11/homeland-hacker-challenges-media-portrayals-muslims-151119074438617.html.
Mackay, Mairi. “'Homeland Is Racist': Graffiti Sneaked onto TV Show.” CNN, Cable News Network, 15 Oct. 2015, edition.cnn.com/2015/10/15/middleeast/homeland-grafitti-racist/.
Amin, Heba Y. “'Arabian Street Artists' Bomb Homeland: Why We Hacked an Award-Winning Series | Heba Amin.” hebaamin, 2015, www.hebaamin.com/arabian-street-artists-bomb-homeland-why-we-hacked-an-award-winning-series/.
Amin, Heba Y. et al. “Graffiti Artists Explain: Why 'Homeland is Watermelon’ went viral'.” CNN, Cable News Network, 23 Oct. 2015, edition.cnn.com/2015/10/23/opinions/opinion-homeland-graffiti-artists/index.html.”
