Airport 'X-ray art' courts TSA trouble

Techno-artist/open-source developer Evan Roth has a message for the Transportation Safety Administration -- several messages, actually -- about what he considers excessive airport security "theater." He also has chosen an intentionally provocative method of delivering those messages: the TSA's own X-ray screening machines.

Here's Roth's plan, which he calls "TSA Communication" and tells me has already made it successfully through three trial airport runs: Take a metal plate, stencil and cut out a message -- words or an image -- place the plate at the bottom of your carry-on bag, and watch what happens as the TSA employee operating the airport X-ray machine notices . . . or doesn't notice.

The cut-out images, which could be anything, currently range from the benign: an American flag; to the smart-alecky: "Nothing to see here;" to what some might find offensive and a TSA agent somewhere is bound to cause a fuss over: a silhouette of a box cutter, which Roth calls "the exact opposite of a box cutter."

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Techno-artist/open-source developer Evan Roth has a message for the Transportation Safety Administration -- several messages, actually -- about what he considers excessive airport security "theater." He also has chosen an intentionally provocative method of delivering those messages: the TSA's own X-ray screening machines.

Here's Roth's plan, which he calls "TSA Communication" and tells me has already made it successfully through three trial airport runs: Take a metal plate, stencil and cut out a message -- words or an image -- place the plate at the bottom of your carry-on bag, and watch what happens as the TSA employee operating the airport X-ray machine notices . . . or doesn't notice.

The cut-out images, which could be anything, currently range from the benign: an American flag; to the smart-alecky: "Nothing to see here;" to what some might find offensive and a TSA agent somewhere is bound to cause a fuss over: a silhouette of a box cutter, which Roth calls "the exact opposite of a box cutter."

Best known for co-founding the Graffiti Research Lab -- "Dedicated to outfitting graffiti artists with open source technologies for urban communication" -- Roth and I have been swapping e-mail about his TSA project. I've also consulted an expert on airport security screening to get that point of view. Roth first, then the expert:

Are you serious about doing this?

"So far I have traveled with the plates three times (I'm actually answering these questions in the Hong Kong airport, having just passed security 20 minutes ago) and I plan to continue doing so.

"I fly all the time, and a big part of doing this project is simply so I have something to look forward to when I go to the airport. I hate flying, I hate airports, I hate security, I hate wasting time, and most of all I hate being forced to play a role in the theater of security.

"Of course having to take off my shoes and throw out my 4oz Jell-O isn't the end of the world, but by passively going along with it I feel as if I am agreeing to take part in the ruse. Taking off my belt is not going to make flying any safer. . . . I would rather go through the dance of airport security as an active participant rather than a passive one."

Are you at all concerned about the obvious risks associated with joking with airport security?

"Legally I don't think I'm breaking any laws by carrying the plates in my carry-on bag. I've read the TSA's list of prohibited items, and while a 4-ounce container of yogurt might pose some problems, "TSA Communication Plates" aren't currently on the list. I would, however, consider it my crowning achievement as an artist if they added "TSA Communication Plates" to their list of prohibited items (I'm not holding my breath).

"And while there is a certain amount of humor in the project, I wouldn't be doing this if it was only intended simply as a joke."

Are you concerned about what others might do if your idea catches on?

"I am excited by what others might do if this catches on. I think if we all got a little more accustomed to creatively talking back instead of following instructions, the U.S. would be in much better place.