Can We Recreate the Theater of the Street On Screen?

In public squares in cities scattered across Europe, cameras are mounted up and pointed at a spot on the ground. When activated, they transform an otherwise typical piece of public space into a stage, where hundreds of people in hundreds of videos posted online have a brief moment to show off their skills – or at least, what they think are skills.

It's all part of a marketing campaign by the Converse shoe company called Pro Streets. The company has installed cameras in public spaces in seven European cities: Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, London, Naples, Milan and Madrid. People activate the cameras by sending a text message, and then they can perform, often amid the busy flurry of people. The videos are posted online, and favorites can be voted on by the public.