After 9/11, the NYPD surrounded Lower Manhattan’s civic center with enhanced security architecture commonly referred to as the ‘Ring of Steel’.

With its local and global reach, the zone is a signature public space of our time: encrypted, hardened.

Our exposition subjects the Ring of Steel to its own trial by jury. We propose new pathways to interrogate the bias against civic-mindedness revealed by command, control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance procedures and technologies.

This is critical for those called to the civic center for jury duty — especially from communities underrepresented in the jury pool, who might be intimidated by security theater even before they face examination about their impartiality during a jury trial.