For the first time in 53 years, **New York Knicks** fans are celebrating an NBA championship, with a parade planned through lower Manhattan. For those unable to attend in person, artist **Morry Kolman** offers an alternative: watching the festivities via several traffic cameras along the parade route and surrounding City Hall, where the celebration concludes. **Kolman** is livestreaming these camera feeds as part of his project, **GardenCam**. The initiative has been streaming and archiving traffic camera footage of street revelers throughout the **Knicks'** historic finals run against the **San Antonio Spurs**. ### Origins of GardenCam: Capturing City Energy A native New Yorker, **Kolman** sought to capture the "bigger energy rippling through the city" after an ecstatic Game 2 win. A friend suggested pulling traffic camera footage from around **Madison Square Garden (MSG)**, where fans were gathering to watch the games. **Kolman**, who describes his artistic practice as "high-effort shitposting," was intrigued by the public's own videos from outside **MSG** and wanted to offer another perspective. His initial coverage for Game 3, however, took an unexpected turn. Beyond the **Knicks'** devastating loss, the attendance of then-President Donald Trump transformed the traffic cameras into a means of observing heightened surveillance around the Garden. "Instead of showing off all the celebrations happening around **MSG**, it was actually a way to watch the live imposition of a perimeter and police state around midtown," **Kolman** noted. ### A History of DOT Scrutiny **GardenCam** is a successor to **Kolman's** 2024 art piece, **Traffic Cam Photobooth**. This earlier project also leveraged NYC's vast surveillance network, allowing people to take selfies using traffic cameras. The **Photobooth** garnered a cease-and-desist letter from the **NYC DOT**.  The **NYC DOT** argued that the project "encourages and promotes the unauthorized use of New York City (NYC) traffic cameras" and that pedestrians taking photos in the middle of the road was "inherently unsafe." **Kolman** was directed to remove and disable all related portions of the **Photobooth** website, including links to city-owned webpages and camera maps. In defiance, he famously took a photo of the letter with a traffic camera and later exhibited the project at Art Basel in Miami. ### DOT's Current Stance and Implications Regarding **GardenCam**, an **NYC DOT** spokesperson informed WIRED that the agency "has no objection to the **GardenCam** project," though they did not elaborate further. With several streets and subway stations slated for closure and prohibitions on bikes and scooters during the parade, concerns about pedestrian safety may be mitigated. **Kolman** interprets the agency's current stance as a sign that "they've learned to let me have my fun, and I think that's a good decision." This ongoing interaction between public art, surveillance technology, and municipal oversight continues to highlight the evolving landscape of privacy and public data in urban environments.