On September 25, 2020, the Disruption Network Lab opened its 20th conference “Data Cities: Smart Technologies, Tracking & Human Rights” curated by Tatiana Bazzichelli, founder and program director of the organisation, and Mauro Mondello, investigative journalist and filmmaker. The two-day-event was a journey inside smart-city visions of the future, reflecting on technologies that significantly impact billions of citizens’ lives and enshrine new unprecedented concentrations of power, characterising the era of surveillance capitalism. A digital future which is already here.

Smart urbanism relies on algorithms, data mining, analytics, machine learning and infrastructures, providing scientists and engineers with the capability of extracting value from the city and its people, whose lives and bodies are commodified. The adjective ‘smart’ represents a marketing gimmick used to boost brands and commercial products. When employed to designate metropolitan areas, it describes cities which are liveable, sustainable and efficient thanks to technology and the Internet.

The conference was held at Berlin’s Kunstquartier Bethanien and brought together researchers, activists and artists to discuss what kind of technologies are transforming metropolises and how. The Disruption Network Lab aimed at stimulating a concrete debate, devoid of the rhetoric of solutionism, in which participants could focus on the socio-political implications of algorithmic sovereignty and the negative consequences on fundamental rights of tracking, surveillance and AI. They shared the results of their latest work and proposed a critical approach, based on the motivation of transforming mere opposition into a concrete path for inspirational change.

The first part of the opening keynote “Reclaiming Data Cities: Fighting for the Future We Really Want” was delivered by Denis “Jaromil” Roio, ethical hacker, artist and activist. In his talk, moderated by Daniel Irrgang, research fellow at the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, Jaromil focused on algorithmic sovereignty and the incapacity to govern technological transformation which characterises our societies today. 

Jaromil looked at increasing investments in AI, robots and machine learning, acknowledging that automated decision-making informed by algorithms has become a dominant reality extending to almost all aspects of life. From the code running on thousands of e-devices to the titanic ICTs-infrastructures connecting us, when we think about the technology surrounding us, we realise that we have no proper control over it. Even at home, we cannot fully know what the algorithms animating our own devices are adopted for, if they make us understand the world better or if they are instead designed to allow machines to study and extract data from us for the benefit of their creators. The same critical issues and doubts emerge with a large-scale implementation of tech within so-called “smart cities”, maximization of the “Internet of Things” born in the 1980s.

Personal data is a lucrative commodity and big data means profit, power, and insights, which is essential to all government agencies and tech firms. Jaromil announced a call-to-action for hackers and programmers, to get involved without compromise and play a key role in building urban projects which will safeguard the rights of those living in them, taking into consideration that by 2050, an estimated 70 per cent of the world’s population may well live in cities. 

Jaromil observed that there is too often a tremendous difference between what we see when we look at a machine and what really happens inside it. Since the dawn of the first hacking communities, hackers preferred writing their own software and constructing their own machines. They were free to disassemble and reassemble them, having control over all the functions and direct access to the source code. This was also a way to be independent from the corporate world and authorities, which they mistrusted. 

Today, users are mostly unaware of the potential of their own tech-devices, which are no longer oriented strictly towards serving them. They have no exposure to programming and think Computer Science and Informatics are way too difficult to learn, and so entrust themselves entirely to governments and tech firms. Jaromil works to simplify interface and programming language, so people can learn how to program and regain control over their tech. He supports minimalism in software design and a process of democratisation of programming languages which works against technocratic monopolies. His Think & Do Tank—Dyne.org—is a non-profit software house with expertise in social and technical innovation, gathering developers from all over the world. It integrates art, science and technology in brilliant community-oriented projects (D-CENT, DECODE, Commonfare, Devuan), promoting decentralisation and digital sovereignty to encourage empowerment for the people.

The second keynote speaker, Julia Koiber, managing director at SuperrrLab, addressed issues of technology for the common good, open data and transparency, and—like the previous speaker—reflected on uncontrolled technological transformation. Koiber noticed that the more people are mobilising to be decision-makers, rather than passive data providers, the more they see how difficult it is to ensure that publicly relevant data remains subject to transparent control and public ownership. In the EU several voices are pushing for solutions, including anonymised user data to be classified as ‘common good’ and therefore free from the control of tech companies.

Recalling the recent Canadian experience of Sidewalk Labs (Alphabet Inc.’s company for urban tech development), Koiber explained that in order to re-imagine the future of neighbourhoods and cities, it is necessary to involve local communities. The Google’s company had proposed rebuilding an area in east Toronto, turning it into its first smart city: an eco-friendly digitised and technological urban planning project, constantly collecting data to achieve perfect city living, and a prototype for Google’ similar developments worldwide. In pushing back against the plan and its vertical approach, the municipality of Toronto made clear that it was not ready to consider the project unless it was developed firmly under public control. The smart city development which never really started died out with the onset of the COVID-19 crisis. Its detractors argue that city dwellers were meant to be human sensors collecting data to test new tech-solutions and increase corporate profit. Data collected during the provision of public services and administrative data should be public; it belongs to the people, not to a black box company.

As Jaromil and Koiber discussed, in the main capitals of the world the debate on algorithmic sovereignty is open and initiatives such as the “Manifesto in favour of technological sovereignty and digital rights for cities,” written in Barcelona, reflect the belief that it will be crucial for cities to achieve full control and autonomy of their ICTs, which includes service infrastructures, websites, applications and data owned by the cities themselves and regulated by laws protecting the interests and fundamental rights of their citizens. Their implementation shall come within people-centric projects and a transparent participatory process.

The work of the conference continued with the panel “Making Cities Smart for Us: Subverting Tracking & Surveillance,” a cross-section of projects by activists, researchers and artists digging into the false myth of safe and neutral technologies, proposing both counterstrategies and solutions to tackle issues introduced in the opening keynote.

Eva Blum-Dumontet, English researcher on privacy and social-economic rights, dedicated her work to the impact of tech on people, particularly those in vulnerable situations. She opened the talk with the observation that the term ‘smart city’ lacks of an official definition; it was coined by IBM’s marketing team in 2005 without a scientific basis. Since then, tech firms from all over the world have been developing projects to get into governments’ favour and to build urban areas that integrate boundless tech-solutions: security and surveillance, energy and mobility, construction and housing, water supply systems and so on. 

As of today, thanks to smart cities, companies such as IBM, Cisco, Huawei, Microsoft and Siemens have found a way to generate the satisfaction of both governments and their suppliers, but do not seem to act in the public’s best interest. In their vision of smart urbanism people are only resources: like water, buildings and administrative services, they are something to extract value from. 

Blum-Dumontet explained that when we refer to urban tech-development, we need to remember that cities are political spaces and that technology is not objective. Cities are a concentration of countless socio-economic obstacles that prevent many individuals from living a dignified life. Privilege, bias, racism and sexism are already integrated in our cities´ (tech-)infrastructures. The researcher acknowledged that it is very important to implement people-centric solutions, while keeping in mind that as of now our cities are neither inclusive nor built for all, with typical exclusion of, for instance, differently abled individuals, low-income residents and genderqueer people.

A sharp critique of the socio-economic systems causing injustice, exploitation and criminalisation, also lies at the core River Honer’s work. River is a web developer at Expedition Grundeinkommen and anti-capitalist tech activist, who wants to support citizens and activists in their struggle for radical transformation toward more just cities and societies without relying on solutions provided by governments and corporations.

Her work methodology includes critical mapping and geospatial analyses, in order to visualise and find solutions to structurally unjust distribution of services, access and opportunities in given geographic areas. Honer works with multidisciplinary teams on community-based data gathering, and turns information into geo-visualisation to address social issues and disrupt systems of discriminatory practices which target minorities and individuals. Examples of her work include LightPath, an app providing the safest well-lit walking route between two locations through various cities; Refuge Restroom, which displays safe restroom access for transgender, intersex, and gender nonconforming individuals who suffer violence and criminalisation in the city, and the recent COVID-19 tenant protection map.

Honer’s projects are developed to find practical solutions to systematic problems which underpin a ruthless political-economic structure. She works on tech that ignores or undermines the interests of capitalism and facilitates organisation for the public ownership of housing, utilities, transport, and means of production. 

The Disruption Network Lab dedicated a workshop to her Avoid Control Project, a subversive tracking and alert system that Honer developed to collect the location of ticket controllers for the Berlin public transportation company BVG, whose methods are widely considered aggressive and discriminatory.

There are many cities in the world in which activist groups, non-governmental organisations and political parties advocate for a complete revocation of fares on public transport systems. The topic has been debated for many years in Berlin too; the BVG is a public for-profit company earning millions of euros annually on advertising alone, and in addition charges expensive flat fares for all travelers.

The panel discussion was concluded with Norway-based speakers Linda Kronman and Andreas Zingerle of the KairUs collective. The two artists explored topics such as vulnerabilities in Internet-of-Things-devices and corporatisation of city governance in smart cities, as well as giving life to citizen-sensitive-projects in which technology is used to reclaim control of our living environments. As Bazzichelli explained when presenting the project “Suspicious Behaviours” by Kronman, KairUs’s production constitutes an example of digital art eroding the assumptions of objective or neutral Artificial Intelligence, and shows that hidden biases and hidden human decisions influence the detection of suspicious behaviour within systems of surveillance, which determines the social impacts of technology.

The KairUs collective also presented a few of its other projects: “The Internet of Other People’s things” addresses technological transformation of cities and tries to develop new critical perspectives on technology and its impact on peoples’ lifestyles. Their video-installation “Panopticities” and the artistic project “Insecure by Design” (2018) visualise the harmful nature of surveillance capitalism from the unusual perspective of odd vulnerabilities which put controlled and controllers at risk, such as models of CCTV and IP cameras with default login credentials and insecure security systems which are easy to hack or have by default no password-protection at all. 

Focusing on the reality of smart cities projects, the collective worked on “Summer Research Lab: U City Sogdo IDB”(2017), which looked at Asian smart urbanism and reminding the panellists that many cities like Singapore, Jakarta, Bangkok, Hanoi, Kuala Lump already heavily rely on tech. In Songdo City, South Korea, the Songdo International Business District (Songdo IBD), is a new “ubiquitous city” built from scratch, where AI can monitor the entire population’s needs and movements.  At any moment, through chip-implant bracelets, it is possible to spot where someone is located, or observe people undetected using cameras covering the whole city. Sensors constantly gather information and all services are automatised. There are no discernible waste bins in the park or on street corners; everything seems under tech-control and in order. As the artists explained, this 10-year development project is estimated to cost in excess of 40 billion USD, making it one of the most expensive development projects ever undertaken.

The task of speculative architecture is to create narratives about how new technologies and networks influence and shape spaces and cultures, foreseeing possible futures and imagining how and where  new forms of human activity could exist within cities changed by these new processes. Liam Young, film director, designer and speculative architect opened the keynote on the second conference day with his film “Worlds Less Travelled: Mega-Cities, AI & Critical Sci-Fi“. Through small glimpses, fragments and snapshots taken from a series of his films, he portrayed an alternative future of technology and automation in which everything is controlled by tech, where complexities and subcultures are flattened as a result of technology, and people have been relegated to the status of mere customers instead of citizens

Young employs the techniques of popular media, animation, games and doc-making to explore the architectural, urban and cultural implications of new technologies. His work is a means of visualising imaginary future worlds in order to help understand the one we are in now. Critical science fiction provides a counter-narrative to the ordinary way we have of representing time and society. Young speaks of aesthetics, individuals and relationships based on objects that listen and talk back, but which mostly communicate with other machines. He shows us alternative futures of urban architecture, where algorithms define the extant future, and where human scale is no longer the parameter used to measure space and relations.

Young’s production also focused on the Post-Anthropocene, an era in which technology and artificial intelligence order, shape and animate the world, marking the end of human-centered design and the appearance of new typologies of post-human architectures. Ours is a future of data centres, ITCs networks, buildings and infrastructures which are not for people; architectural spaces entirely empty of human lives, with fields managed by industrialised agriculture techniques and self-driving vehicles. Humans are few and isolated, living surrounded by an expanse of server stacks, mobile shelving systems, robotic cranes and vacuum cleaners. The Anthropocene, in which humans are the dominant force shaping the planet, is over.

The keynote, moderated by the journalist Lucia Conti, editor at “Il Mitte”and communication expert at UNIDO, moved from the corporate dystopia of Young, in which tech companies own cities and social network interactions are the only way people interrelate with reality, to the work of filmmaker Tonje Hessen Schei, director of the documentary film “iHuman”(2020). The documentary touches on how things are evolving from biometric surveillance to diversity in data, providing a closer look at how AI and algorithms are employed to influence elections, to structure online opinion manipulation, and to build systems of social control. In doing so, Hessen Schei depicts an unprecedented concentration of power in the hands of few individuals.

The movie also presents the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence and Artificial General Intelligence, the hypothetical intelligence of machines that can understand or learn any task that a human being can. 

When considering AI, questions, answers and predictions in its technological development will always reflect the political and socioeconomic point of view, consciously or unconsciously, of its creators. For instance —as described in the Disruption Network Lab´s conference “AI Traps” (2019)—credit scores are historically correlated with racist segregated neighbourhoods. Risk analyses and predictive policing data are also corrupted by racist prejudice leading to biased data collection which reinforces privilege. As a result new technologies are merely replicating old divisions and conflicts. By instituting policies like facial recognition, for instance, we replicate deeply ingrained behaviours based on race and gender stereotypes and mediated by algorithms. 

Automated systems are mostly trying to predict and identify a risk, which is defined according to cultural parameters reflecting the historical, social and political milieu, in order to give answers and make decisions which fit a certain point of view. What we are and where we are as a collective —as well as what we have achieved and what we still lack culturally— gets coded directly into software, and determines how those same decisions will be made in the future. Critical problems become obvious in case of neural networks and supervised learning. 

Simply put, these are machines which know how to learn and networks which are trained to reproduce a given task by processing examples, making errors and forming probability-weighted associations. The machine learns from its mistakes and adjusts its weighted associations according to a learning rule and using error values. Repeated adjustments eventually allow the neural network to reproduce an output increasingly similar to the original task, until it reaches a precise reproduction. The fact is that algorithmic operations are often unpredictable and difficult to discern, with results that sometimes surprise even their creators. iHuman shows that this new kind of AI can be used to develop dangerous, uncontrollable autonomous weapons that ruthlessly accomplish their tasks with surgical efficiency.

Conti moderated the dialogue between Hessen Schei, Young, and Anna Ramskogler-Witt, artistic director of the Human Rights Film Festival Berlin, digging deeper into aspects such as censorship, social control and surveillance. The panellists reflected on the fact that—far from being an objective construct and the result of logic and math—algorithms are the product of their developers’ socio-economic backgrounds and individual beliefs; they decide what type of data the algorithm will process and to what purpose. 

All speakers expressed concern about the fact that the research and development of Artificial Intelligence is ruled by a few highly wealthy individuals and spoiled megalomaniacs from the Silicon Valley, capitalists using their billions to develop machines which are supposed to be ‘smarter’ than human beings. But smart in this context can be a synonym for brutal opportunism: some of the personalities and scientists immortalised in Hessen Schei´s work seem lost in the tiny difference between playing the roles of visionary leaders and those whose vision has started to deteriorate and distort things. Their visions, which encapsulate the technology for smart cities, appear to be far away from people-centric and based on human rights.

Not only big corporations but a whole new generation of start-ups are indeed fulfilling authoritarian practises through commercialising AI-technologies, automating biases based on skin colour and ethnicity, sexual orientation and identity. They are developing censored search engines and platforms for authoritarian governments and dictators, refining high-tech military weapons, and guaranteeing order and control.

The participants on stage made clear that, looking at surveillance technology and face recognition software, we see how existing ethical and legal criteria appear to be ineffective, and a lack of standards around their use and sharing just benefit their intrusive and discriminatory nature. Current ethical debates about the consequences of automation focus on the rights of individuals and marginalised groups. Algorithmic processes, however, generate a collective impact as well that can only be partially addressed at the level of individual rights— they are the result of a collective cultural legacy. 

Nowadays, we see technologies of control executing their tasks in aggressive and violent ways. They monitor, track and process data with analytics against those who transgress or attempt to escape control, according to a certain idea of control that was thought them. This suggests, for example, that when start-ups and corporations establish goals and values within software regulating public services, they do not apply the principles developed over century-long battles for civil rights, but rely on technocratic motivations for total efficiency, control and productivity. The normalisation of such a corporatisation of the governance allows Cisco, IBM and many other major vendors of analytics and smart technologies to shape very delicate public sectors, such as police, defence, fire protection, or medical services, that should be provided customarily by a governmental entity, including all (infra)structures usually required to deliver such services. In this way their corporate tactics and goals become a structural part of public functions.

In the closing panel “Citizens for Digital Sovereignty: Shaping Inclusive & Resilient” moderated by Lieke Ploeger, community director of the Disruption Network Lab, political scientist Elizabeth Calderón Lüning reflected on the central role that municipal governments have to actively protect and foster societies of digital self-determination. In Berlin, networks of collectives, individuals and organisations work to find bottom-up solutions and achieve urban policies in order to protect residents, tenants and community spaces from waives of speculation and aggressive economic interests. Political and cultural engagement make the German capital a centre of flourishing debate, where new solutions and alternative innovative perspectives find fertile ground, from urban gardening to inclusion and solidarity. But when it comes to technological transformation and digital policy the responsibility cannot be left just at the individual level, and it looks like the city government is not leading the way in its passive reactions towards external trends and developments. 

Calderón Lüning is currently researching in what spaces and under what premises civic participation and digital policy have been configured in Berlin, and how the municipal government is defining its role. In her work she found policy incoherence among several administrations, alongside a need for channels enabling citizens to participate and articulate as a collective. The lack of resources in the last decade for hiring and training public employees and for coordinating departmental policies is slowing down the process of digitalisation and centralisation of the different administrations.

The municipality’s smart city strategy, launched in 2015, has recently been updated and refinanced with 17 million euros. In 2019 the city Senate released the Berlin Digital Strategy for the coming years. To avoid the harmful consequences of a vertical approach by the administration towards its residents, activists, academics, hackers, people from civil society and many highly qualified scientists in the digital field came together to rethink and redesign an ecological, participatory and democratic city for the 21st century. The Berlin Digital City Alliance has been working since then to arrive at people and rights-centred digital policies and is structuring institutional round tables on these aspects, coordinated by civic actors.

Digital sovereignty is the power of a society to control technological progress, self-determining its way through digital transformation. It is also the geopolitical ownership and control of critical IT infrastructures, software and websites. When it comes to tech in public services, particularly essential public services, who owns the infrastructure and what is inside the black box are questions that administrations and policy makers should be able to answer, considering that every app or service used contains at least some type of artificial intelligence or smart learning automation based on a code, which has the potential to significantly affect citizens’ lives and to set standards that are relevant to their rights. Without open scrutiny, start-ups and corporations owning infrastructures and code have exceeded influence over delicate aspects regulating our society.

Rafael Heiber, geologist, researcher and co-founder of the Common Action Forum, focused on the urgent need to understand ways of living and moving in the new space of hybridisation that cities of the future will create. Taking a critical look at the role of technologies, he described how habitability and mobility will be fundamental in addressing the challenges posed by an urban planning that lies in a tech-substratum. As he explained, bodies are relevant inside smart environments because of their interactions, which are captured by sensors. Neoliberal capitalism has turned us into relentless energy consumers in our everyday lives, not because we move too much, but because we use technology to move and tech needs our movements.

Heiber considered the way automobiles have been influencing a whole economic and financial system for longer than a century. In his view they symbolise the way technology changes the world around itself and not just for the better. Cars have transformed mobility, urban environment, social interactions and the way we define spaces. After one hundred years, with pollution levels increasing, cities are still limited, enslaved, and dominated by cars. The geologist suggested that the implementation of smart cities and new technologies might end up in this same way.

Alexandre Monnin, head of Strategy and Design for the Anthropocene, closed the panel discussion questioning the feasibility of smart cities, focusing on the urge to avoid implementing unsustainable technologies, which proved to be a waste of resources. Monnin acknowledged that futuristic ideas of smart cities and solutionism will not tackle climate change and other urgent problems. Our society is profit-oriented and the more efficient it is, the more the system produces and the more people consume. Moreover, tech doesn´t always mean simplification. Taking as example the idea of dematerialisation, which is actually just a displacement of materiality, we see today for example how video rental shops have disappeared almost worldwide, replaced in part by the online platform Netflix, which represents 15 percent of internet traffic.

Monnin warned about the environmental impact of tech, not just the enormous amount of energy consumed and Co2 produced on a daily basis, but also the amount of e-waste growing due to planned obsolescence and consumerism. Plastics are now a growing environmental pollutant and constitute a geological indicator of the Anthropocene, a distinctive stratal component that next generations will see. Monnin defines as ‘negative commons’ the obsolete tech-infrastructures and facilities that will exist forever, like nuclear power plants, which he defines as “zombie technology”.

The French researcher concluded his contribution pointing out that humanity is facing unprecedented risks due to global warming, and—as far as it is possible to know—in the future we might even not live in cities. Monnin emphasized that people shall come together to prevent zombie-tech obsolescence from happening, like in Toronto, and he wishes that we could see more examples of civil opposition and resistance to tech which is unfit for our times. Smart cities are not revolutionising anything, they constitute business as usual and belong to the past, he argued, and concluded by appealing for more consideration of the risks related to institutionalisation of what he calls “corporate cosmology” which turns cities into profit-oriented firms with corporate goals and competitors, relying on the same infrastructures as corporations do.

In its previous conference “Evicted by Greed,” the Disruption Network Lab focused on the financialisation of housing. Questions arose about how urban areas are designed and governed now and how they will look in the future if the process of speculation on peoples’ lives and privatisation of available common spaces is not reversed. Billions of people live in cities which are the products of privilege, private corporate interests and financial greed. This 20th conference focused on what happens if these same cities turn into highly digitised environments, molded by governments and billionaire elites, tech-engineers and programmers, who wish to have them functioning as platforms for surveillance and corporate intelligence, in which data is constantly used, stored and collected for purposes of profiling and control.

According to the UN, the future of the world’s population is urban. Today more than half the world’s people is living in urban areas (55 percent). By mid-century 68 percent of the world’s population will be living in cities, as opposed to the 30 percent in 1950. By 2050, the global urban population is projected to grow by 2.5 billion urban dwellers, with nearly 90 percent of the increase in Asia and Africa, as well as the appearance of dozens of megacities with a population of at least 10 million inhabitants on the international scene.

This conference presented the issue of algorithmic sovereignty and illustrated how powerful tech-firms work with governments—which are also authoritarian regimes and dictators— to build urban conglomerates based on technological control, optimisation and order. These corporations strive to appear as progressive think tanks offering sustainable green solutions but are in fact legitimising and empowering authoritarian surveillance, stealing data and causing a blurry mix of commercial and public interests.

Algorithms can be employed to label people based on political beliefs, sexual identity or ethnicity. As a result, authoritarian governments and elites are already exploiting this tech to repress political opponents, specific genders and ethnicities. In such a scenario no mass-surveillance or facial recognition tech is safe and attempts at building “good tech for common goods” might just continue to fail.

To defeat such an unprecedented concentration of power, we need to pressure governments at all levels to put horizontal dialogue, participation, transparency and a human-rights based approach at the centre of technological transformation. To this end, cities should open round tables for citizens and tech-developers, forums and public committees on algorithmic sovereignty in order to find strategies and local solutions. These will become matters of, quite literally, life and death. 

Smart cities have already been built and more are at the planning and development stages, in countries such as China, Singapore, India, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Jordan, and Egypt. As Bazzichelli pointed out, the onset of the dramatic COVID-19 crisis has pushed social control one step further. We are witnessing increasing forms of monitoring via tracking devices, drone technologies and security infrastructures. Moreover, governments, banks and corporations think that this pandemic can be used to accelerate the introduction of technologies in cities, like 5G and Internet of Things.

There is nothing wrong with the old idea that we can use technology to build liveable, sustainable, and efficient cities. But it is hard to imagine this happening with technology provided by companies that exhibit an overall lack of concern for human rights violations.

Alongside the main conference sessions, several workshops enriched the programme. Videos of the conference are also available on YouTube.

For details on speakers and topics, please visit the event page here: https://www.disruptionlab.org/data-cities

The 21th conference of the Disruption Network Lab curated by Tatiana Bazzichelli
“BORDER OF FEARS” will take place on November 27-29, live from Studio 1, Kunstquartier Bethanien, Mariannenplatz 2, 10997 Berlin.
More info here

To follow the Disruption Network Lab sign up for its Newsletter to receive information about its conferences, projects and ongoing research.

The Disruption Network Lab is also on Twitter and Facebook.

Registration is now open for the Peer to Peer: UK/HK Online Festival, an online platform for cultural exchange between the UK and Hong Kong’s Visual Arts sectors as they interrogate topical  themes of our time including art & activism, art in the digital realm and the climate emergency.

The festival has announced its programme of public events and panel talks, alongside an online exhibition of digital artwork including existing artworks and 5 brand new commissions from artists based in the UK and Hong Kong.

The Peer to Peer: UK/HK Online Festival will take place entirely online between 11-14 November 2020 on peertopeerexchange.org. The festival is free and open to all.

Originally envisaged as a physical exchange between UK and Hong Kong visual arts networks, the project has responded to the Covid-19 pandemic to become an online space where meaningful exchange can happen and partnerships and relationships can be forged.

Curated by independent curator Ying Kwok, the festival has announced its public events programme. These will be a series of engaging public debates with artists, curators and visual arts leaders from across Hong Kong and the UK. 

Arts Council England’s Director International, Nick McDowell, will open the event on Wed 11 November alongside Ying Kwok and festival organisers Lindsay Taylor (University of Salford Art Collection), Sarah Fisher (Open Eye Gallery) and Zoe Dunbar (Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art).

“This is such a heartening example of international exchange and partnership evolving despite the global pandemic. Artists may not be able to travel but – as this project shows – they can connect and innovate in the digital space.” Nick McDowell, Director International, Arts Council England.

The panel events will include:

• The importance of artist-led exchange as a radical and necessary response to a changing international world, chaired by Wing-Sie Chan from a-n, the Artists Information Company.
• Climate change as the defining emergency of our times, and how visual arts can contribute to a greener recovery, chaired by Sarah Fisher from Open Eye Gallery.
• Exploring the realm of ‘online’ and the concept of online exhibitions v. exhibitions online, chaired by Hong Kong Academic and Curator Vennes Cheng.

“The themes that will be explored in the festival have grown from mutual interests from partners in Hong and the UK as we respond to timely global events and issues. It reflects how we have co-curated the festival with all partners in an experimental approach for international collaboration. We see this festival as a springboard for meaningful exchange between Hong Kong and the UK in the future.” Ying Kwok, Festival Director

Online exhibition & social media residencies

Accompanying the public events will be an entirely online exhibition of digital artworks from artists based in the UK and Hong Kong.

It will include five brand new commissions, nominated and selected by UK and Hong Kong partner organisations taking part in Peer to Peer: UK/HK. They include UK based artists Antonio Roberts – nominated by Furtherfield, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley and Hetain Patel, and Hong Kong based artists Lee Kai Chung and Sharon Lee Cheuk Wun.

The commissions will be accompanied by over 15 existing digital artworks from nominated artists, to be announced.

As part of the exchange between UK and Hong Kong, artists based in each country have also been nominated for a series of online residencies hosted on the social media accounts of partner organisations in the corresponding country. The artists will respond to different themes set by the host organisation.

The residency exchange began last weekend with Hong Kong International Photo Festival nominating Raul Hernandez, a Spanish born artist living in Hong Kong, to take over Open Eye Gallery’s Instagram channel for four consecutive weekends as part of his Room Available project exploring being a foreigner in a new environment. 

Hong Kong’s HART gallery have also nominated Hong Kong artist Wu Jiaru who will be taking over Furtherfield’s Instagram channel from 19 – 29 October, as an extension of their work currently displayed in HART’s exhibition Household Gods.

Further residencies will be announced on the Peer to Peer: UK/HK Residencies page.

Peer to Peer: UKHK Festival Programme

Full programme below:

Wednesday 11 November 2020

Opening session: Welcome and introductions
11.30am UKT / 7.30pm HKT
Outline of programme and launch of online commissions 

Speakers: Nick McDowell (Director International, Arts Council England), Ying Kwok (Peer to Peer: UK/HK Festival Director), Sarah Fisher (Director, Open Eye Gallery), Lindsay Taylor (Curator, University of Salford Art Collection), Zoe Dunbar (Director, Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art) 

Panel One: Local/international artist exchange in time of global pandemic
12pm UKT / 8pm HKT
The values of becoming artist-led as a radical and necessary approach to responding to a changing international world.
Chair: Wing Sie Chan (a-n The Artists Information Company, UK)
Panel: Angel Leung (Videotage, HK), Dorcas Leung ( HART, HK), Jamie Wylde (Videoclub, UK)

Panel Two: Working with communities
1:15pm UKT / 9:15pm HKT
How do visual arts organisations in the UK and Hong Kong connect with communities in a rapidly changing political and social world.
Chair: James Green (Newlyn Art Gallery and The Exchange, UK)
Panel: Charlotte Frost (Furtherfield, UK), Liz Wewiora (Open Eye Gallery, UK), Bruce Li (Centre for Heritage Arts & Textile, HK), Ivy Lin (Oil Street Art Space, HK)

Thursday 12 November 2020

Panel Three: Isn’t all art activism?
12pm UKT / 8pm HKT
Activision: The philosophy and principle of activism in art. Isn’t all art activism?
Chair: Skinder Hundal (New Art Exchange, UK)
Panel: Chantal Wong (Eaton Workshop, HK), Yang Yeung (1983, HK), Helen Wewiora (Castlefield Gallery, UK)

Panel Four: Placemaking: utopian vision v social experiment
1:15pm UKT / 9:15pm HKT
Challenges and barriers in face of art programming for placemaking and community building in Hong Kong and the UK.
Chair: Jeannie Wu, (HART, UK)
Panel: Fiona Venables (Milton Keynes Arts Centre, UK), Bess Chan (Hong Kong International Photo Festival, HK), Maddi Nicholson, (Artist/Art Gene, UK)

Friday 13 November 2020

Panel Five: Climate: The Defining Emergency of Our Times
12pm UKT / 8pm HKT
How can we join forces to engage and empower the public, or influence policy, towards a greener recovery?
Chair: Sarah Fisher (Open Eye Gallery, UK)
Panel: Patrick Fung (Clean Air Network, HK), Colette Bailey (Metal, UK), Richard Fitton (Energy House, University of Salford, UK), 

Panel Six: Archives/collections
1:15 pm UKT / 9:15pm HKT
A discussion of the profound changes recently affecting archives and collections; what they contain, who they represent and how they are accessed.

Chair: Paul Hermann (Redeye, the Photography Network / The Photographic Collections Network, UK)
Panel: John Tain (Asia Art Archive, HK), Joseph Chen (Videotage, HK), Stephanie Fletcher (University of Salford Art Collection, UK), Melanie Keen (Wellcome Collection, UK)

Saturday 14 November 2020

Panel Seven: Exploring the realm of “online”
11am UKT / 7pm HKT
An online exhibition or an exhibition online? Creating and curating online art as an artistic practice – not a solution.
Chair: Vennes Cheng (Academic and Curator, HK)
Panel: Jacob Bolton (Peer to Peer: UK/HK), Peter Bonnell (Derby Quad, UK), Antonio Roberts (Artist, UK)

Closing Remarks
12:15pm UKT / 8.15pm HKT
Chairs: Lindsay Taylor (University of Salford Art Collection) and Ying Kwok (Festival Director)
All partners and panelists invited to share their highlights of the Festival

Ends
1pm UKT / 9pm HKT

UK/HK Partners

UK partners
a-n – The Artists Information Company, Castlefield Gallery, Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (CFCCA), Firstsite, Furtherfield, Milton Keynes Arts Centre, New Art Exchange Nottingham, Newlyn Art Gallery / The Exchange, Nottingham Contemporary, Open Eye Gallery, QUAD Derby, Red Eye Photography Network, University of Salford Art Collection, and Wellcome Collection.

Hong Kong partners
1983, 1a space, Blindspot Gallery, Centre for Heritage Arts and Textile (CHAT), Eaton Workshop, HART, Hong Kong International Photo Festival, Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre, Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre, K11 Art Foundation, Oil Street Art Space, Videotage and WMA.

Featured image: Spork patient rights (jpeg copy).  Millie developed Spork who experienced all manner of catastrophes.

Download PDF of The Last Collaboration

Preface Summer, 2020

The Last Collaboration comprises the joint fatality review of Millie Niss’s final illness in a Western New York hospital’s ICU by mother and daughter, Martha Deed and Millie Niss in 2009.  Furtherfield could scarcely have chosen a more significant time to reintroduce the collaboration.

As is the case for hundreds of thousands of people in this year of COVID-19, Millie’s story has no happy ending.  In fact, those who knew and loved her were forewarned that Martha could not compose an upbeat conclusion to the recounting of Millie’s final illness.

2020 is also the year in which the web art so central to Millie’s life will end as well.  In this, as in her death from a virus that could not be avoided, Millie also is not alone.

In fact, in parallel to steps Millie took to make sure the story of her illness and death was told in The Last Collaboration, Millie also anticipated the need for future upgrades to her award-winning Erewhon installation.

News from Erewhon, in its initial incarnation is an example of Web Art 1.0 with a slight leaning towards 1.1 because we exploit Google Image search: We display our text with our design. In Erewhon 2.0, we propose to do what older websites have had to do: upgrade from 1.0 to 2.0 whilst preserving the essence of Erewhonicity and without alienating users. Thus, instead of a single URL in a web journal, there will now be a profusion of Erewhon web installations hosted by us and by others. . . (Millie Niss.  &Now talk, October 15, 2009)

What Millie did not anticipate, despite her knowledge that she might not have many years ahead of her, was that she would not be able to meet the goal of protecting her work from future changes on the web or with her tools, such as Flash and Actionscript.  She died six weeks after delivering her talk.

Martha constructed The Last Collaboration from a collection of circumstances and documents not ordinarily available for a family to review.  Family members can keep logs of their observations and conversations with hospital personnel and with their family member patients.  They can collect medical records.  However, Millie’s documentation of her month in the ICU is nearly unique.

Millie suffered respiratory arrest within an hour of entering the ER, was resuscitated and placed on a ventilator.  But she did not require sedation.  Millie couldn’t speak while on the ventilator.  Thus, with her oxygen supply restored, and her computer in front of her or with pencil and notebook in hand, for the next four weeks, she sent reports home, posted emails, and ‒ perhaps most important ‒handwrote her side of every conversation with her family or medical staff.   When filled, each notebook was sent home for safekeeping, because Millie wanted her story told.  These notebooks are dated and can be linked to her medical record. Thus, both sides of her conversations with medical staff are recorded.  Millie’s communications in writing can be lined up with progress notes and medical reports to assess whether staff understood the significance of what Millie reported to them.  

Millie had struggled with chronic illness that had left her bedridden for several years.  She had regained sufficient strength to apply with Martha, her mother, to present at &Now, an international  e-poetry conference held in Buffalo, NY.  With power wheelchair and oxygen and the help of her aides and family, she had made that presentation. But there was a terrible irony, given our world’s current struggle with COVID-19.

This was October 2009, and there was a major outbreak of H1N1 in the city.  Because a vaccine was on the way, but not yet available, local public health officials decided not to announce the outbreak to avoid panic.  Only after a dozen or more people, including Millie, had died from H1N1, was the public informed.

Millie and Martha discovered the outbreak when Millie arrived at the ICU, which normally had approximately 20 beds for non-heart patients.  Seventeen patients were on ventilators (instead of the usual 3-5), the coronary care ICU had been reduced to accommodate desperately ill patients arriving with H1N1. Patients were forced to remain in the ER until the beds and other equipment were retrieved  from storage and set up.

Millie’s presentation of her new work, work which excited her because it represented a significant advance in her technical skills led her into H1N1’s path and contributed to her death.

And here is the irony to top all others:  Erewhon itself will soon disappear.  Millie constructed it in Flash and Flash Actionscript, stretching those utilities to their outer limits.  And now, the presentation of that project, which was groundbreaking for her,  not only is Millie, the author, gone, but in an act of willful obsolescence by Adobe, the work itself also will soon be gone.  Although the dire messages of Flash’s demise are somewhat contradictory, it appears that the work may not even be viewable downloaded onto laptops and viewed off the web.

To a web artist like Millie, what is happening to her work as well as the work of many others who used Flash when Flash was cutting edge technology, is akin to paper manufacturers decreeing that libraries may no longer use paper in their collections.

Three years’ notice is hardly adequate to ensure the work of those early artists, some of whom are no longer here to protect their work.

Impossible to know whether Millie, had she anticipated the early death of her project, would have been willing to risk her impaired immune system to make her &Now presentation in 2009, even absent H1N1 rampant in the community.  She had been shut-in for years, as many have been shut in for many months in 2020, due to her risk of death if she had caught a common cold.

Almost certainly, if Millie Niss were here today, she would be coding her own language to preserve her work.

Reading The Last Collaboration in 2020, it is possible to see that changes in health care have improved, particularly in the area of hospital acquired infections (HAI) and medical staff communication with family. The importance of coordinatated, accessible and affordable health care remains critical. Perhaps the most important contribution Martha and Millie’s account makes today when families are often excluded from visiting family members seriously ill from COVID-19, is the picture it presents of life in the ICU. 

In a series of six online sessions we practice and discuss the social skills, values, and priorities that are central to the Hologram model. Each person leaves the course empowered to assemble and participate in their own Hologram.

Pragmatics:  six consecutive Tuesdays, starting September 8 and finishing on October 20th. 6-9pm London Time, [1-4pm Thunder Bay (Eastern Standard Time)], and [1-4am Singapore Time], on Zoom. 

The course is fully booked but find out here how you can get involved. 

The Hologram is a mythoreal viral distribution system for non-expert healthcare, practiced from couches around the world. The premise is simple: three people – the ‘Triangle’ – meet on a regular basis, digitally or in person, to focus on the physical, mental and social health of a fourth – the ‘Hologram’. The Hologram, in turn, teaches these listeners how to give and also receive care. When they are ready, the Hologram will support them to each set up their own triangle, and so the system expands. This social technology is based on the experimental care models developed in the Social Solidarity Clinics in Greece during the height of the financial and migration crisis. The result is the construction of a robust multidimensional health network, collectively-oriented social practices, and trust that can outlive capitalism. Its protocol ensures that all caretakers are cared for, and regards properly supporting someone else’s wellbeing as therapeutic in itself. 

In the second ever Hologram course, people from all over the world are invited to study and practice what it means to ask for help. In We Must Begin Again: Asking for help as a new world, participants will be guided through a process to remember together why and how to ask for support, and how to ensure that our supporters are supported. 

As the racist, capitalist and patriarchal world crumbles around us, we invite people to design long-lasting systems for support and solidarity that can ensure that our species can outlast the coming social, economic and planetary emergencies. Participants in the course will experiment with how to organize and value the support they need to survive and thrive in the coming new world. We believe that destruction is making space for new beginnings and that we have no choice but to begin again. We see asking for help as a way of coming into a new world with humility, curiosity and interdependence with all beings. 

We want to work together with you to remind ourselves what we have been forced to forget: how to be a cooperative, interdependent species. In this project, the person who articulates their needs and asks for support can take us to a whole new world.

BOOKING ESSENTIAL

Contact cooperativespecies@gmail.com if you need any further information or assistance.

Apply to join the course here. 

About the course co-facilitators

Cassie Thornton is an artist and activist who makes a “safe space” for the unknown, for disobedience and for unanticipated collectivity. She uses social practices including institutional critique, insurgent architecture, and “healing modalities” like hypnosis and yoga to find soft spots in the hard surfaces of capitalist life. Cassie has invented a grassroots alternative credit reporting service for the survivors of gentrification, has hypnotized hedge fund managers, has finger-painted with the grime found inside banks, has donated cursed paintings to profiteering bankers, and has taught feminist economics to yogis (and vice versa). Her new book is available from Pluto Press called The Hologram: Feminist, Peer-to-Peer Health for a Post-Pandemic Future. She is currently the co-director of the Re-Imagining Value Action Lab in Thunder Bay, an art and social centre at Lakehead University in Ontario, Canada.

Lita Wallis is a youth worker, organiser, and informal educator based in London. Whether in work or her personal life, Lita has spent much of her time experimenting with different shapes of supportive relationships (eg. cooperatives, triangles, flows and webs.) She is still working on ways to build sustainable support networks that challenge isolating social norms, and then how to commit to them in a social context that is so hostile to putting down roots. Four years ago she and two friends made a lifelong commitment to The Tripod, a platonic support system, which aims to provide much of the financial, emotional and housing support that many people end up relying on couple relationships for. She hopes to bring some learning from this experience, plus some seeds of inspiration from her work with young people and her avid sci-fi habit, to set founding Hologram members fourth in good stead.

This course is supported by Furtherfield and CreaTures – Creative Practices for Transformational Futures. CreaTures project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 870759. The content presented represents the views of the authors, and the European Commission has no liability in respect of the content.

On May 29, 2020, the Disruption Network Lab opened its 19th conference, “Evicted by Greed: Global Finance, Housing & Resistance”. The three-day-event was supposed to take place in Berlin in March, on the days of the global call for the Housing Action Days. Instead, it took place online due to ongoing safety concerns relating to the coronavirus pandemic.

Chaired by Tatiana Bazzichelli and Lieke Ploeger, programme and community director of the Disruption Network Lab, the interactive digital event brought together speakers and audience members from their homes from all over the world to investigate how speculative finance drives global and local housing crises. The topic of how aggressive speculative real-estate purchases by shell companies, anonymous entities, and corporations negatively impacts peoples’ lives formed the core conversation for the presentations, panel discussions, and interactive question and answer sessions. The conference served as a platform for sharing experiences and finding counter-strategies.

In her introductory statement, Bazzichelli took stock of the situation. As the pandemic appeared, it became clear worldwide that the “stay-at-home” order and campaigns were not considering people who cannot comply since they haven’t got any place to stay. Tenants, whose work and lives have been impacted, struggle to pay rent, bills, or other essentials, and in many cases had to leave their homes or have been threatened with forced eviction. People called on lawmakers at a national and local level to freeze rent requirements as part of their response to the pandemic, but very few measures have been put in place to protect them. However, scarce and unaffordable housing is neither a new, nor a local problem found in just a few places.

Christoph Trautvetter, public policy expert and German activist of
Netzwerk Steuergerechtigkeit (Network for Tax Justice) and Wem gehört
die Stadt (Who Owns the City) of the Rosa-Luxemburg Foundation, and Manuel Gabarre de Sus, Spanish lawyer and activist from the Observatory Against Economical Crime, delivered the opening keynote “Anonymous & Aggressive Investors: Who owns Berlin & Barcelona?” moderated by Eka Rostomashvili, advocacy and campaigns coordinator at Transparency International.

In the last decade waves of private equity real estate investments have reshaped the rental housing markets in cities like Berlin and Barcelona. Housing and real estate have been deformed by global capital markets and financial excess, treated as a commodity, a vehicle for predatory investment and wealth rather than a social good reflecting a human right. This led to evictions, discriminations in the housing sphere, and lack of access to basic housing-related services, all put in place by aggressive real estate investors.

Trautvetter is co-author of a recent study tracing the ownership of 400 companies owning real estate in Berlin. He explained that in the city, where about 85% of the population are renters, exploding house prices and rentals have been guaranteeing investors returns far beyond 10% per year after the financial crises of 2009. Here the emergence of corporate landlords changed the city. They are entities that own and operate rental housing on a massive scale, replacing the traditional “gentle old lady” landlord. At 17.5%, Berlin has a law proportion of direct investors renting out their properties.

Activists, politicians, and organisations of tenants are trying to fight unlawful evictions and speculative investments reshaping the German capital, but often face anonymity. Almost half of the city is in the hands of listed companies, professional investors, or indirect investors shielded by property management firms and lawyers that operate on their behalf. International private equity companies are one of the most obscure and greedy embodiments of policy failure in this context.

Gabarre de Sus focused on the problem of the opportunistic investment funds that appeared in Spain due to strong deregulation. After the global financial crisis of 2009, the rescue of the Spanish financial system ensured that hundreds of thousands of households were indirectly under public control. But the European Union and the Spanish Government decided in 2012 to sell these properties to opportunistic investors. Many say that if public ownership of these real estates had been maintained for social renting, the rent bubble of recent years would not have occurred. As a result, many vulture funds, particularly from the United States like Blackstone, Hayfin, TPG, and millionaires like the Mexican Carlos Slim, made huge profits. Since then, rent prizes have increased of more than the 50% in the main Spanish cities, more than 30 times faster than wages.

Whilst describing this process, Gabarre de Sus focused on the political and legal ties of big investment funds that invest in real estate. There are structures of political and economic interest that allow companies like Blackstone Group Inc. — one of the largest real estate private equity and investment management firms in the world declaring $140 billion of real estate assets under management, 25% of its total assets — to scale business models in which properties are bought, renovated, and then put back on the market at rents that tenants cannot afford. These actors are influential, with economic partners at international level, including banks from the world’s largest economies.

In many cases, real estate registers do not contain any information on beneficial owners or there is no way to link legal and beneficial owners, so that both authorities and citizens know very little about who owns their cities. EU legislation obliges information on real estate holders to be available to authorities and specifies that the general public shall receive access to beneficial ownership information of EU based companies. The problem is that such registers are usually maintained under self-disclosure principles based on data internally identified by the reporting entity. Access to data is often difficult and expensive. Once you get the information, it can take time to check it and find out contradictory data. Moreover, an articulated system of international shell companies, secrecy legislation, and strategic financial loopholes provides immunity and contributes to global inequality, consolidating the incessant shift of wealth from the poor to the rich.

In Berlin nearly half of the real estate investors remain anonymous and there is no certainty of how much dirty money hides behind their investments, which is something common to many places around the world. The current situation —  revealed also by the Panama Papers investigation —  shows that governments profit from illegal wealth from transnational money-laundering, hosting international criminal enterprises within their territories and capital cities, thus providing a grey area for illegal practices where false or inappropriate identification represents the other face of fraudulent records and corruption.

The panel “Foggy Properties & Golden Sands: Money Laundering in London & Dubai” moderated by Rima Sghaier, outreach and research fellow at the Hermes Centre for Transparency and Digital Human Rights, made clear how easy and common it is for global elites and organised criminality to open offshore companies, move assets, and buy real estate in big capital cities, with investments that integrate illegal funds into the financial system and legitimate economy.

Sam Leon, data investigations lead at Global Witness, referred to the relations between satellite fiscal havens such as the Virgin Islands, the Cayman, and the Channel Islands, and the City of London. These countries are linked through commercial and legal ties with high probabilities for dark money to flow through the UK’s Overseas territories and Crown Dependencies undetected. 

The UK has a public land registry, but it is difficult to effectively scrutiny data. Companies are obliged to file good quality information, but many do not and authorities are not able to check it accurately. Britain is defined by detractors as the world’s greatest enabler of corporate tax avoidance. Considering real estate, Leon explained that tens of thousands of tenants in England and Wales are in the hands of unscrupulous owners, who hide behind anonymous companies and trusts.

One loophole real estate investors use is acquiring shares in a company that owns real estate, rather than the real estate itself; the property can be then sold by selling the shares in the company with no UK corporate tax. If the company is registered in a country that guarantees secrecy and free hands, no name appears. According Global Witness in England and Wales 87,000 properties with an estimated value of more than 1 billion pounds are owned by companies incorporated in secrecy jurisdictions, which keep secret the information about the real owners. Scotland suffers from the same problem, and in this context Scottish Limited Partnerships are a major concern too.

Companies avoid inheritance tax and capital gain tax, riding fiscal loopholes. The use of firms based in countries which are known tax havens to purchase property is being observed all around the world, with concerns about how much property is owned by unaccountable offshore entities.

The analyses of Leon introduced topics covered by the second panellist Karina Shedrofsky, who presented her work as head of OCCRP’s research team “Dubai’s Golden Sands.” Recently leaked datasets of property and residency details were obtained by the non-profit group C4ADS, and provided to the international investigative journalists of the OCCRP as part of the Global Anticorruption Consortium, in collaboration with Transparency International.

International criticism of governments and independent organisations pointed out that Dubai has become an open market for money laundering and a safe haven for the corrupt at a global level, due to the lack of controls along with very profitable conditions. The United Arab Emirates are accused of weakly regulating the financial sector, guaranteeing secrecy, and offering the world’s criminals a range of services. The country’s land registry is not open to the public and a lack of enforcement and oversight in the property sector is ideal to stash vast amounts of dirty money.

Shedrofsky pointed out that Dubai is an absolute monarchy ruled as a business. Several transnational investigations show that its laws seem to be a facilitator for international money laundering, corruption, and other financial crimes.

The emirate has been attracting secretive real estate purchases by foreign companies and individuals for years. Construction and real estate sector represents 20% of the country’s gross domestic product (2016). In the country it is possible to move money with very little regulatory scrutiny, cash-based transactions are incentivised, and the volume of gold trafficked accounts for around 25% of global trade, with almost no questions about its origins. Wealthy investors are offered a property investment visa by an investment in real estate of minimum $272,000 dollars, and get the benefits of light financial regulation, anonymity, and banking secrecy.

Shedrofsky explained how researchers from 8 countries worked on thousands of spreadsheets maintained by real estate professionals, in an accurate cross-border investigation that led to the publication of a hundred names of wealthy people, who have invested millions in Dubai. The non-official records from the years 2014-2016 provided more than 129,000 owner’s data, which the team organised per country and verified, revealing only information that could be proven beyond doubt. A website hosting an interactive map with the detected properties is online, and anyone can check it (occrp.org/en/goldensands/).

The first day of the conference closed with filmmaker and journalist Fredrik Gertten and Leilani Farha, former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, in a live conversation moderated by Tatiana Bazzichelli. Gertten’s latest documentary investigates the factors that push people out from their own city, turning it into an unaffordable place that is more and more difficult to live in due to the extreme difference between housing prices and wage development.

From New York to Barcelona “Push: The Film” narrates how corporations and financial elites are speculating on people’s lives. Renters worldwide are drowning in a sea of self-doubt, with feelings of inadequacy and fears, because they think they are unable to keep up with life. But the documentary shows that this condition is the consequence of a system intended to harm, marginalise, and discriminate them. Even if residents should be able to afford to live in their own cities, this process inexorably condemns them to move away.

The work of the speakers on the first day of the conference reinforced the idea that crowd-based and data-driven research projects, together with independent and cross-border investigations, can allow a glimpse behind the curtain of the real estate market. Anonymity and secrecy in juxtaposition to openness and transparency, obtained through collective mobilisation, collecting, sharing, and analysing data.

A depressingly similar pattern emerges in countries all over the world. Housing has been financialised and turned into an investment vehicle, which has caused an oversupply of luxury estates and empty buildings in many cities, and a chronic shortage of adequate housing for the least advantaged, for the working class, and often for the middle class too. A process often encouraged by governments.

In this context, “financialisation” refers to tendencies within the economic system characterised by the expansion and proliferation of financial markets penetrating into a range of both economic and social sectors, and consequently affecting human rights related goods — such as housing, pensions and healthcare — making huge profits out of basic needs and human sufferings.

With regard to the financialisation of housing, not just banks, corporations, and big investment funds play this ruthless game. Fraudsters, money launderers, and organised crime are very active internationally, and look for weak financial systems and a moment of crisis to speculate on the property market.

Ela Kagel, digital strategist and founder of Supermarkt Berlin, discussed collective solutions to tackle housing, social, and economic injustices with the sociologist Volkan Sayman, promoter of the campaign “Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co!”. This movement is an example of how residents can involve themselves to determine and achieve their own objectives, acting on their rights to create a space for their perspectives and needs within an urban context.

After a majority of citizens were found to be in favour of the initiative in early 2019, a city-wide referendum could be now called on the expropriation of private housing companies with more than 3,000 housing units. Local political parties have not managed to find agreement yet and, as a result, the effects of the referendum in Berlin are likely to be minor if people do not keep on supporting it. The expropriation would put 240,000 flats under public control.

As outlined, investors from the international capital market made huge purchases in Berlin’s residential and commercial real estate: the company Deutsche Wohnen alone owns 111,500 apartments in the city. Together with Vonovia, BlackRock, Akelius, Blackstone, Carlyle, Optimum Evolution, and others, these companies own almost one fourth of the city. In the early 2000s Berlin’s government sold many public housing units and areas to these companies, instead of offering them to residents as development project to focus on local communities and their needs. The Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co! community has forced large real estate companies and politicians from all parties to address the issue and successfully raised awareness among Berliners who engaged in it.

In Berlin exasperated renters successfully came together and organised themselves in several ways. They are also appealing to the local council to stop the sale of their homes, and the “Rent Price Cap,” a new policy in force since 2020, has frozen rents on around 1.4 million homes in the German capital. The “Mietendeckel” is supposed to last for 5 years. Twelve constitutional complaints have already been filed against it.

The keynote on the second day “The Human Rights Solution: Tackling the housing crisis” focused on the work of Leilani Farha, UN former Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, in conversation with Justus von Daniels, Editor-in-Chief of CORRECTIV, non-profit newsroom for investigative journalism. Opening the keynote Von Daniels presented the German crowdsourced project he runs — Who owns the city? — which is based on community-powered investigations collecting data to gain a better understanding of the German housing market.

Farha recalled that international human rights law recognizes everyone’s right to an adequate housing and living conditions. Global real estate today represents nearly 60% of the value of all global assets; with housing comprising nearly 75%. That´s more than twice the world’s total gross domestic product. The aspect to consider is that such a vast amount of wealth seems to have left governments accountable to real estate investors rather than to their international human rights obligations.

Farha criticised Blackstone Group Inc. and its subsidiaries for a practice she also confirms has become common throughout the industry in many countries around the world. These companies are targeting multi-family residences in neighbourhoods deemed to be “undervalued,” so a building or several buildings from an area of poor and low-income tenants. The former UN rapporteur described how Blackstone purchases a building, undertakes repairs or renovation, and then increases the rent driving existing tenants out, and replacing them with higher income ones.

As the speakers pointed out, there has been little attention given to the impact of financialisation on housing, which has caused displacement and evictions, changing urban areas forever. Until the massive financial deregulation of the 1980s, housing was built and paid for locally. Governments, local savings, and loan institutions were supposed to provide the bulk of financing for housing up. Due to an ideological shift, determined by the impact of the dominance on financial markets of big investment funds, banks and corporations, housing is increasingly intertwined with flows of global capital. Housing markets are now more responsive to these flows than to local conditions becoming a global industry.

With roots in the 2008 financial crisis, the recent massive wave of investments by international corporations, banks, and big investment funds completed the shift from housing as a place to build a home, to housing as an investment, with devastating consequences for millions of people. The current real-estate cycle started in 2009 and led to significant price increases for residential property in many cities all over the world. Among several factors, the proliferation of predatory equity funds sifting through the world searching for undervalued investment opportunities and finding them in housing.

The global goal is to guarantee everybody legal security and protection against unlawful forced evictions, harassment and other threats, to make sure that personal or household financial costs associated with housing do not threaten or compromise the attainment and satisfaction of other basic needs. We see instead that the needs of disadvantaged and marginalized groups are not taken into account at all. In urban areas public spaces and social facilities disappear together with the expression of cultural identities and ways of life of the original residents.

Statistics show that many of the less advantaged are renters, not owners. And rents have increased even faster than housing prices in many metropolitan areas. Some call for more expansion at the urban peripheries with sustainable and modern public housing projects and better infrastructures. Others call for empowering neighbourhoods and local communities to reverse the financialisation process and to improve the conditions of the areas, that are most affected by this process, building more housing for themselves, and distributing those empty ones.

The conclusive panel on the second day was moderated by Iva Čukić, cofounder of the urban development organisation Ministry of Space, set up to occupy abandoned and neglected urban spaces and fill them with projects, workplaces, housing, or alternative art galleries, to enhance everyone’s right to the city. The panel brought into dialogue different modalities of fighting property speculation, and sharing tactics of resistance in the political and media landscape, and presented concrete alternatives for the urban territory.

The first panelist to speak, Marco Clausen, is the co-founder of the Prinzessinnengarten in Berlin, an island of collective gardening in Moritzplatz. The garden represents an open space to share and develop new forms of urban life, where to practice ideas of social-ecological positive transformation, in the context of privatisation and financialisation of real estate in the city. 

In the 2000s Berlin was still a city with vast empty areas, dismissed military facilities and many old empty buildings. In the last 20 years over 3,000 sites in Berlin owned by public housing societies have been privatised. The garden started as a temporary project in 2009 and has been struggling since 2012 against private investors and speculation. Back then activists mobilised 30,000 people to stop the selling process to an investor, and obtained a new contract until 2018. The area around the garden was first in the hands of a Goldmann Sachs fund, and later to Deutsche Wohnen. A small group fought for two years to keep the garden a collective project, managing to prolong the contract for another six years and receiving public funding to rebuild the garden as an open learning and cultural centre. 

Always in Berlin, another group of activists has been mobilising to fight the Amazon tower, that is to be completed in 2023 in the area of Berlin-Friedrichshain. Yonatan Miller, tech-worker and activist from the coalition “Berlin vs. Amazon,” talked about the movement that opposes the big tech company’s project, that will reshape the area and impact many people’s lives. On one side, over the last five years Berlin has already seen the fastest increase in housing prices globally, on the other big tech corporations are known for getting into real-estate market and make things worse for local residents, gentrifying the area. Miler discussed the challenges of the activists, presenting their strategy for the struggle ahead to replicate the success story of New York’s ousting of Amazon in 2019.

The panel proceeded with the StealThisPoster collective and their online archive “stealthisposter.org” maintained by artists and activists part of a network formed around the right to housing movements of London and Rome. The group presented the practice of subvertising, the artistic hacking of corporate and political advertisements to make counter-statements by disrupting lucrative communication of induced desires and needs and parodying of them. Inside urban areas subvertising (portmanteau of subvert and advertise) is an act of reappropriation of those public spaces that have been turned into a vehicle for intrusive and harmful commercial communications.

StealThisPoster recently supported with various guerrilla actions a community fighting against the eviction of the “Lucha y Siesta,” a space of social housing and the first inhabited by an all-female squat in Rome. Their evocative pictures of Roman monuments lit at night by the words “on sale” became viral and helped the cause. However, the existence of this independent legendary social space is still at risk. Lucha Y Siesta was put on auction by the city council of Rome on April 7 this year. The short film premiere “StealThisPoster: Artivism & the Struggle of Lucha Y Siesta” that StealThisPoster created in occasion of Evicted By Greed, focuses on this experience and introduces the practice of subvertising.

A video contribute by Penny Travlou from the University of Edinburgh concluded the panel. Travlou talked about the housing crisis in Athens and the local activists of the AARG collective, Action Against Regeneration & Gentrification, born to fight against eviction, financial speculation, and to support the rights of the refugees.

Alongside the main conference sessions, a workshop on the third day enriched the programme.

The virtual tour “Visiting the Invisible” by Christoph Trautvetter discovers the anonymous and aggressive real estate investors of Berlin, drawing on the findings of the project “Wem gehört die Stadt” of the Rosa-Luxemburg Stiftung, and including further recent studies from other collectives.

The conference “Evicted by Greed” presented experts working on anti-corruption, investigative journalists, artists and activists, who met to share effective strategies and community-based approaches to increase awareness on the issues related to the financialisation of housing and its negative effects. Here bottom-up approaches and methods that include local communities in the development of solutions appear to be fundamental. Projects that capacitate collectives, minorities, and marginalized groups to develop and exploit tools to combat systematic inequalities, injustices, and speculation are to be enhanced.

Ghostly shell companies and real estate speculators evict real people from their homes. It is not possible to state that all of these companies are acting illegally, or indeed avoiding paying taxes by being based in tax havens, but it is proven that opaque offshore firms are routinely used by criminals for systemic tax evasion, to buy property as a means to launder or stash dirty money, as well as to dodge taxes.

Open registers and open debate about these issues are very important, and not just for possible judicial outcomes. It is important to find out who the owners of real estates are and give a name to the landlords. Sometimes they might not be speculation oriented individuals and might not be aware of the consequences of their investments, but have delegated ruthless intermediates, lawyers, and investment consultants. There could be hundreds of workers who invested in a pension found without knowing that their profit is based on aggressive speculation.

Equal and non-discriminatory access to public spaces and adequate housing is not possible without an appropriate and effective regulation. The researches, the projects and the investigations presented in this conference are all worthwhile experiences with proven benefits, but ultimately, they may not be enough to alter the structural forces in play. The pandemic has shown that speculators all over the world wait for moments of crisis to purchase new real estates for a lower price, taking advantage of the financial difficulties that many people are experiencing. A growing number of property investors are preparing for what they believe could be a once-in-a generation opportunity to buy distressed real-estate assets at bargain prices. The system facilitates the concentration of real states in the hands of big international landlords and governments remain inert.

The solution cannot be found in one simple formula, or by asking people to buy real estate and become direct investors and new owners, in a deregulated system based on speculation, where most of the individuals struggle to make a living. The global economic system is based on banks holding massive amounts of loans to companies based in tax havens, speculative real estate investments and a small economic elite that makes and escapes rules, defending financial deregulations and feeding social injustice.

Videos of the conference are also available on YouTube.

In-depth video contributes by the speakers recorded before the conference are available here: https://www.disruptionlab.org/evicted-videos

For details of speakers and topics, please visit the event page here: https://www.disruptionlab.org/evicted-by-greed

The 20th conference of the Disruption Network Lab curated by Tatiana
Bazzichelli & Mauro Mondello is DATA CITIES: SMART TECHNOLOGIES,
TRACKING & HUMAN RIGHTS. It will take place on September 25-27 at Studio 1, Kunstquartier Bethanien, Mariannenplatz 2, 10997 Berlin. More info: https://www.disruptionlab.org/data-cities

To follow the Disruption Network Lab sign up for its Newsletter and get informed about its conferences, ongoing researches and projects.

The Disruption Network Lab is also on Twitter and Facebook.

Many generations have passed since the “Dread Isolation”. Two nations with shared ancestry and clashing beliefs meet to trade their unique technologies.

Join us for the workshop that is also a game where we use roleplay to explore how personal and collective data practices and devices might shape the attitudes and fortunes of a society? 

Sign up by 12th August 2020

Booking essential 

Participants will each receive one of two devices in the post, and will be given different roles to play as delegates in a fictional trade negotiation. In this first meeting on record, and with minimal knowledge of each other’s cultures, the people of Ourland and New Bluestead must use their devices to communicate with each other and to agree to the terms of a technology and data-culture exchange.

What do they have to offer? How will they decide what they want and what is in their best interests?

What freedoms might they sacrifice, what insights might they gain?

How might they adapt a foreign technology to their own needs, and how might they understand the risks involved?

This is an invitation to participate in Transcultural Data Pact, a research event that is also a  game of serious make believe. We welcome you to a future-historic event and clash of data-cultures. 

The event will take place online in Zoom and will last for about 3 hours with a lunchtime pre-event orientation session that will last for an hour.

There are two sessions available for both the game event and the pre-event orientation (which is a requirement of participation):

Lunchtime pre-game orientation events

13.30 – 14.30 BST Tues 18 August 2020

13.30 – 14.30 BST Wed 19 August 2020 

Transcultural Data Pact Game events

13.15 – 16.30 BST Thurs 20 August 2020 

13.15 – 16.30 BST Fri 21 August 2020 

In exchange for your time you will exercise your creative agency contributing to the ideation of future technologies for live personal data.  You might even discover new meanings in your personal data in places you never thought of looking before!

All participants will receive a £20 voucher for their contribution to the research.  

This is an open invitation to all. No experience in role-playing games is necessary.

Booking essential

Pregame orientation events 

13.30 – 14.30 to learn about your devices and about LARPing, to introduce and develop the scenarios, to build the fictional worlds together.

Game Event Schedule

13.20 – 13.30 Arrive in Zoom and sign in

13.30 Introduction

13.40 – 16.00 Nations Technology Exchange Live Action Role Play

16.00 – 16.30 Debrief, reflection and survey

For any enquiries, please email ruth.catlow@furtherfield.org

About the project

Findings contribute to a research paper Human-Computer Interaction (CHI).

The Transcultural Data Pact is a Qualified Selves research event that uses data objects to stretch people’s imagination about the collection and usage of their own data to investigate personal and collective data devices and practices that add real value.

Qualified Selves is a joint project between Lancaster and Edinburgh Universities. Improving how individuals make sense of data management (from social media to activity trackers to home IoT devices) in order to enhance personal decision making, increase productivity, and improve their quality of life. Its novel approach to co-design and co-creation has supported the development of new prototypes to help think about tracking data in different ways. https://sensemake.org/

Transcultural Data Pact is created by Ruth Catlow (Furtherfield/DECAL) with Dr Kruakae Pothong, Billy Dixon, Dr Evan Morgan and Prof. Chris Speed from Edinburgh University, in collaboration with Kate Genevieve.

Ruth Catlow is Director of DECAL. Furtherfield is London’s first (de)centre for digital arts. DECAL is a Furtherfield initiative which exists to mobilise research and development by leading artists, using blockchain and web 3.0 technologies for fairer, more dynamic and connected cultural ecologies and economies.

In 2019 we began planning the second year in our 3-year Citizen Sci-Fi programme crowdsourcing creative and technological visions of our communities and public spaces. 

With a planetary health check revealing over a million species on earth at risk of extinction as a result of human action, we wanted to explore ways of developing living and machine systems for mutual care and respect on earth. We had questions: How do we care? Who or what do we care for first? And who cares for the carers in a world ravaged by political crises and climate emergency?

Little did we know, by the time we were about to launch this programme of radical care, we humans would need it more than ever. 

Covid-19 has both interrupted and accelerated our plans. Physical proximity and presence are vital to ongoing collaborations between artists and other human and non-human inhabitants of Finsbury Park (where our Gallery and Commons are based). We long for the time that these can resume. We have postponed The Treaty of Finsbury Park that we have been planning with Cade Diehm til next year. But you can read about this mid-Summer LARP for multi-species revolution here.

However, while we have had to close our Gallery space to visitors for the summer months, as a  born-digital arts organisation we were already occupying online networks for connection, knowledge sharing, and support, so this year you’ll find even more of our programme there where everyone can get at it. Please check this page, our social media and sign up for our newsletter for updates. 

Each of the projects in our Love Machines season explores how we might act together and start reprogramming all our technologies of production and control for better love and understanding between all entities on earth – human, creature and machine or other! From collective healthcare, to terrifying (and comforting?) technologies themselves, to shared stories and systems of empathy, for Furtherfield, 2020 will be the real summer of love. 

‘UNINVITED’ by Nye Thompson & UBERMORGEN

31 Oct 2020 – 31 Jan 2021

UNINVITED by leading digital artists Nye Thompson (UK) and UBERMORGEN (AT/CH) is an art installation at Furtherfield Gallery and on the Internet exploring what happens when networked surveillance tools and AI capabilities get sick in the head. See for yourself by entering www.furtherfield.org in your browser or by scanning the cordoned off gallery with your phone. There you’ll encounter a website possessed and enter a ‘captcha’ code to the live feeds. Watch the watcher seeing the unseen as its eyes crawl the disturbing digital crevices of a world caught on camera (and entirely misunderstood) by MACHINES!

An invisible networked super-organism oscillating between anxiety, lust, and horror. Described by the artists as ‘a radically new creature looking at the world and nothing makes sense,’ the synthetic organism apprehends the universe through millions of hallucinogenic virally abused (CCTV) sensors. Thompson & UBERMORGEN’s life-form continually evolves by using human and machine learning. It defines its own existence and distributed agency through undergoing fear, instability, aggression, and vulnerability. UNINVITED can be experienced as a monstrous AI machine installation in Furtherfield Gallery, the horror movie it makes in its own mind and projects into the void, and an online viewing room where the humans and their own watching machines try to join the experience. By disrupting the traditional contract between the work and the visitor, the life-form insists on its own autonomy. Observers become part of this ostensibly alien organism.

Credits:
By Nye Thompson & UBERMORGEN
With…
Composer/sound designer: Thom Kubli
Project Consultant: Adrian Bojenoiu
Branding & Web Team: Studio Hyte
Industrial Design & Monster Prototype: Tareg Al-Zamel
Photography & videography: Geoff Titley
Software architecture & machine learning: Richard Hopkirk & Martin Dixon
Mechatronics: Modulab Bucarest
CCTV visual prototypes: Alexander Zenker

The Hologram: An image of health in multi-dimensional crisis, Cassie Thornton

Prototyping and enacting a networked care distribution system. 

February – September 

In early 2020 Canadian artist Cassie Thornton arrived in London to do major work on her sci-fi-inflected project about the future of healthcare. As governments around the world began putting their nations on lockdown, Thornton found herself isolated inside the fiction she herself had been building – becoming a kind of pandemic artist in residence. 

Thornton’s project uses ‘parafiction’ or, fiction presented as fact, to create an alternate universe of healthcare solutions for a world overcome by myriad new illnesses. Poignant in an age of ‘social distancing’, from her fictitious realm she will model the Hologram, a network of socially connected caretakers. Inspired by free, integrative and transformational healthcare developed in Greece during the financial/refugee crisis, each ‘hologram’ comprises a team who connect with one individual and talk with them about their health from three perspectives: social, physical or mental. Over time each person’s ‘hologram’ reflects back to them a multifaceted image of themselves. 

The Hologram – Collective Health As A Beautiful Artwork 

August – September

This summer, as a continuation of The Hologram project Thornton will host a four week course prototyping and enacting a networked healthcare system as part of the European CreaTures programme. Participants will explore the Hologram state of being and co-create a portrait of the process in the form of advertisements for the model. Sign up for the Hologram newsletter here to receive more information.

These elements will all contribute to an exhibition and performance of The Hologram alongside performed trials in the park in 2021.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 870759, for CreaTures – Creative practice and transformations to sustainability.

Empathy Loading, Friendred, Elisa Giardina Papa, Vishal Kumaraswamy and Marie-Eve Levasseur

An online art project exploring empathetic relationships between humans and networked non-humans developed by students from the MA Curating Contemporary Art Programme Graduate Projects 2020, Royal College of Art, London, in partnership with Furtherfield.

June – October

Empathy Loading is a transdisciplinary online art project inquiring into affective relationships between humans and non-humans. These emotional connections are the objects of speculation in the works of Friendred, Elisa Giardina Papa, Vishal Kumaraswamy and Marie-Eve Levasseur, who each submitted a creative ‘proposition’ in response to these themes. The artworks reflect upon the interweaving of the synthetic and organic worlds, and the emergence of new forms of caretaking and caregiving. 

One submission, by Vishal Kumaraswamy, was chosen to be developed further into the project’s main online commission. Speculating on the potential of alternative systems of care for and with technology, all artists’ responses, exhibited on the Empathy Loading website, invite consideration of meaningful interactions between humans and machines by developing new forms of intimacy. 

Launching on 15 June, the website will feature artist interviews, a curatorial statement, a newly commissioned creative text by poet and programmer Allison Parrish and host a live public programme.

Join us online for the events accompanying Empathy Loading: 

• 15 June Project Launch of Empathy Loading
• 16 June 12:00 – 1:00 pm: Artist in Conversation: Vishal Kumaraswamy and Zarina Muhammad (The White Pube) | Event page
• 18 – 21 June: Speculative Listening by Amina Abbas-Nazari | Event page

Follow Empathy Loading on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for all updates.

Future Fictions of Finsbury Park, Stephen Oram, Mud Howard, Studio Hyte and YOU?

Delivering augmented reality stories about the Future of Finsbury Park through your door

September 2020-March 2021

Future Fictions of Finsbury Park is an augmented reality sci-fi zine set in Finsbury Park. In these dystopian times we are gathering alternative stories about the future, representing a range of diverse viewpoints, and presenting them in a futuristic format that will be delivered direct to the doors of the local residents.

The zine arrives in the post as an alien-looking booklet which needs to be scanned with a smartphone to reveal a set of stories about Finsbury Parks of the future. The augmented stories will only appear through the app, occupying their own dimension by hovering and moving above the page.  

Future Fictions of Finsbury Park AR produced by Furtherfield and Studio Hyte with funding from Arts Council England and Haringey Council.

News From Where We Are 

A cultural discussion podcast grounded in news from where we are

April, May and from November

We may be confined to our homes by the Coronavirus emergency but we still have access to thriving networked cultures from around the world.  ‘News From Where We Are’ is hosted by Furtherfield’s Marc Garrett, a conversation with many voices from the ground. The podcast explores how the collaborative-imaginative fieldwork of artists, techies and activists is informing how we organise, imagine and build solidarity, good health and post-capitalist realities. Working together and supporting others to do the same. Each podcast includes your news from where you are, interviews, reviews, readings and announcements, to explore how people want to live in our globally-connected world now.

Listen to two full programmes that document the early stages of the pandemic. When we resume in November please send short audio recordings to marc.garrett@furtherfield.org in the style of local news headlines (up to 90 seconds) including your name, where you are, and your news. Also send your social media handles so that we can share the podcast with you.

Bios

Amina Abbas-Nazari is a London based designer, researcher and artist whose work expands reality through designed interactions, speculative systems and sonic fictions. She graduated from the MA Design Interactions at the Royal College of Art, where she is now a Research Fellow, working on the EPSRC funded Citizen Naturewatch project. She is also embarking on a Techne NPIF funded PhD studentship in the subject areas of Artificial Intelligence and Voice, in partnership with IBM. She is a member of MUSARC choir, a research and event platform based at London Metropolitan University, exploring the relationship between architecture and sound. Her projects re-compose or re-arrange reality as a way to understand how the world is constructed and then use speculation, storytelling and designed media to describe alternate arrangements of society and ways of life via technology, geopolitics, semiotics, economics and belief systems. 

https://www.aminanazari.com/

Friendred is an installation and computational artist currently based in London. He is a PhD candidate at Goldsmiths, University of London, researching the intertwined relationship between technology and performance arts in the field of HCI. Since 2015, Friendred has been focused on disciplines crossing arts, technology and sciences. His recent work combines movement and algorithmic machines to explore sensory apparatus and interactive systems and their relationship to embodiment, technologised performance and the architectural body. His work has been published on several design and technology platforms including DesignBoom and CreativeApplications. He has won several prestigious awards including the Shanghai Da Shi Award and the Bronze prize in the third Cultural and Creative Design Competition. His work has been exhibited at Tate Britain and The Design Museum.   

http://friendred.studio/

Elisa Giardina Papa is an Italian artist whose work investigates gender, sexuality, and labor in relation to neoliberal capitalism and the borders of the Global South. Her work has been exhibited and screened at MoMA (New York), Whitney Museum [Sunrise/Sunset Commission], Seoul Mediacity Biennale 2018, Unofficial Internet Pavilion of 54th Venice Biennial, XVI Quadriennale di Roma, rhizome.org  [Download Commission], The Flaherty NYC, Institute for Contemporary Art, Milano (ICA MILANO), among others. Giardina Papa received an MFA from RISD, and a BA from Politecnico of Milan, and she is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in film and media studies at the University of California Berkeley. She lives and works in New York and Sant’Ignazio (Sicily).

http://www.elisagiardinapapa.org/

Mud Howard (they/them) is a gender non-conforming poet, performer and activist from the states. mud creates work that explores the intimacy and isolation between queer and trans bodies. mud is a Pushcart Prize nominee. they are currently working on their first full-length novel: a queer and trans memoir full of lies and magic. they were the first annual youth writing fellow for Transfaith in the summer of 2017. their poem “clearing” was selected by Eduardo C. Corral for Sundress Publication’s the Best of the Net 2017. mud is a graduate of the low-res MFA Poetry Program at the IPRC in Portland, OR and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Westminster. you can find their work in THEM, The Lifted Brow, Foglifter, and Cleaver Magazine. they spend a lot of time scheming both how to survive and not perpetuate toxic masculinity. they love to lip sync, show up to the dance party early and paint their mustache turquoise and gold.

www.mudhoward.com

Vishal Kumaraswamy is a new media artist and filmmaker currently based in Bangalore, India. He has an MA in Photography from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London. Vishal’s work has been presented at the Venice Biennale’s Research Pavilion, Galeria-de Arte-Mexicano, Athens Digital Arts Festival, Birmingham Art Summit, Apex Art’s Savdhaan – Regimes of Truth and will shortly be exhibiting at The Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College. He is  Programme Director at Walkin Studios, an independent multidisciplinary art studio and project space and founder of the international artist collective, Now You Have Authority, a collaborative practice through which he has curated exhibitions, residencies, and delivered workshops as part of Tate Modern’s Tate Exchange Programme, Tanzfest Aarau and The Sluice Biennial. Vishal is currently an artist-in-residence with Contemporary Calgary’s In-Collider Program and is presenting work online for www.the-lack-of.com as part of The Wrong Biennale.

https://www.vishalkswamy.com

Marie-Eve Levasseur lives and works in Leipzig, Germany. She completed a bachelor in Visual and Media Arts at the Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada and obtained her master and postmaster diploma at the Academy of Visual Arts of Leipzig. Using diverse forms and techniques like video, installation, sculpture and 3D animation, she questions the proximity of technological and organic surfaces in a posthuman context as well as our perception of device-mediated content. Inspired by thinkers such as Donna Haraway and Rosi Braidotti, her projects use speculative fabulation; imagined situations with fictive devices to open a space to reflect upon the way we get along in the system we live in. Her works have been shown in many group exhibitions in Montreal, Berlin, London, Paris, Hong Kong and Zurich. In 2020, she receives a research and creation grant from the KdFS (Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen), Germany.

http://marieevelevasseur.com/

Zarina Muhammad is an art critic @ the white pube (thewhitepube.com // @thewhitepube) where she writes about exhibitions, how art makes her feel, and how institutions operate. cancer sun/aries moon/sagittarius ascendant. ‘intellectual charlatan’, ‘sociopathic pseudo-critic’, leading proponent of ‘The Philosophy of the Warm Tummy’ & cowboy in the art world.

https://www.zarinamuhammad.co.uk/

Stephen Oram writes thought provoking stories that mix science fiction with social comment, mainly in a recognisable near-future. He is one of the writers for SciFutures and, as 2016 Author in Residence at Virtual Futures – described by the Guardian as “the Glastonbury of cyberculture” – he was one of the masterminds behind the new Near-Future Fiction series and continues to be a lead curator. Oram is a member of the Clockhouse London Writers and a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors. He has two published novels: Fluence and Quantum Confessions, and a collection of sci-fi shorts, Eating Robots and Other Stories. As the Author in Residence for Virtual Futures Salons he wrote stories on the new and exciting worlds of neurostimulation, bionic prosthetics and bio-art. These Salons bring together artists, philosophers, cultural theorists, technologists and fiction writers to consider the future of humanity and technology. Recently, his focus has been on collaborating with experts to understand the work that’s going on in neuroscience, artificial intelligence and deep machine learning. From this Oram writes short pieces of near-future science fiction as thought experiments and use them as a starting point for discussion between himself, scientists and the public. Oram is always interested in creating and contributing to debate about potential futures.

www.stephenoram.net

Allison Parrish is a computer programmer, poet, educator and game designer whose teaching and practice address the unusual phenomena that blossom when language and computers meet, with a focus on artificial intelligence and computational creativity. She is an Assistant Arts Professor at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, where she earned her master’s degree in 2008. Named “Best Maker of Poetry Bots” by the Village Voice in 2016, Allison’s computer-generated poetry has recently been published in Ninth Letter and Vetch. Her first full-length book of computer-generated poetry, “Articulations,” was published by Counterpath in 2018.

https://www.decontextualize.com/

Nye Thompson is an artist turned software designer turned artist. She creates data-gathering software systems to explore new technology paradigms, and has a particular interest in the machinic gaze and its underlying power dynamics. She has exhibited internationally including Tate Modern, The Barbican, The V&A, ZKM Karlsruhe, Ars Electronica and The Lowry. Her first solo show Backdoored.io – described by C4 News as “too shocking to broadcast” – became global clickbait and triggered an international government complaint. Her work has been featured on BBC, C4, CNN, the Guardian and Wired, and she was a guest presenter on BBC Radio 4’s ‘The Art of Now: Surveillance’. She has been called “the new Big Brother” (Vogue) and “a contemporary Jacques Cousteau” (Bob & Roberta Smith). She has received several Arts Council England and British Council awards. She was a Lumen Prize finalist in 2018 & 2019, and shortlisted for the 2019 Rapoport Award for Women in Art and Technology. Her work was recently acquired for the V&A Museum’s permanent collection.

http://www.nyethompson.co.uk

Cassie Thornton is an artist and activist who makes a “safe space” for the unknown, for disobedience and for unanticipated collectivity. She uses social practices including institutional critique, insurgent architecture, and “healing modalities” like hypnosis and yoga to find soft spots in the hard surfaces of capitalist life. Cassie has invented a grassroots alternative credit reporting service for the survivors of gentrification, has hypnotized hedge fund managers, has finger-painted with the grime found inside banks, has donated cursed paintings to profiteering bankers, and has taught feminist economics to yogis (and vice versa). She has worked in close collaboration with freelance curators and producers including Taraneh Fazeli, Magdalena Jadwiga Härtelova, Dani Admiss, Amanda Nudelman, Misha Rabinovich, Caitlin Foley and Laurel Ptak. Her projects, invited and uninvited, have appeared at (or in collaboration with) Transmediale Festival for Media Arts, San Francisco MoMA, West Den Haag, Moneylab, Swissnex San Francisco, Pro Arts Gallery & Commons, Dream Farm Commons, Furtherfield, Gallery 400, Strike Debt Bay Area, Red Bull Detroit, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, Flux Factory, Bemis Center for the Arts, Berliner Gazette and more. Feministeconomicsdepartment.com

Studio Hyte is a London based multidisciplinary design studio who place research and concept above medium. Working between graphic design, interaction and emergent forms of visual communication, we aim to create meaningful and thought provoking work. Formed of a small group of individual practitioners, Studio Hyte is the middle ground where all of our interests and practices meet. As such our collective practice and research covers a broad spectrum of topics including; language, inclusion & accessibility, egalitarian politics & alternative protest and technology & the human. With an emphasis on process, we often create critical narratives through our work in order to conceptualise through making. Collectively, our visual practice is a means through which we can plot out a conceptual landscape in order to understand and explore real-world scenarios. Studio Hyte works on self-directed research projects, commissions and client-led projects for a small pool of like minded organisations and individuals.

http://studiohyte.com

UBERMORGEN is an artist duo founded 1995 in Vienna by lizvlx & Hans Bernhard. Part of the Net.Art avant-garde of the 1990s and 2000s digital actionism & concept art, UBERMORGEN celebrate a radical-subversive approach to data & matter. UBERMORGEN own 175 websites/domains and they have been featured in 3000+ news reports & reviews. CNN called them ‘Maverick Austrian Business People’, NY Times called them ‘simply brilliant’. UBERMORGEN was featured at Centre Pompidou, MoMA/PS1, Sydney Biennale, MACBA Barcelona, New Museum New York, SFMoma, ICC Tokyo, Gwangju Biennale, Serpentine Galleries, Whitney Museum. Main influences: Rammstein, Samantha Fox, XXXTentacion and Pixibücher, Olanzapine & LSD, Kentucky Fried Chicken’s Coconut Shrimp Deluxe & Viennese Actionism. UBERMORGEN talk at international conferences, museums and symposia and they hold the professorship for Networks at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne.

http://ubermorgen.com/

A list of recommendations, reflecting the dynamic culture we are part of, straddling the fields of art, technology and social change.

Events, Exhibitions, Open Calls, Festivals and Conferences

News From Where We Are: The Furtherfield Podcast | First broadcast Friday 10th April 2020 | We may be confined to our homes by the Coronavirus emergency but we still have access to thriving networked cultures from around the world.  ‘News From Where We Are’ is the Furtherfield podcast hosted by co-founder and co-artistic director Marc Garrett, a conversation with many voices from the ground | Coming soon in April | Join us and send 90-second audio updates | Interviews with Cassie Thornton, Cade Diem & Joseph DeLappe. Contributions from Jaya Klara Brekke, Régine DeBatty, Jeremy Height, and more. More info at https://buff.ly/33C3kYG | Every 2nd Friday, on Soundcloud – https://soundcloud.com/furtherfield

Upcoming: Art & Animals in the Age of AI and Bio-Engineering | Next month, Regine DeBatty will be giving online classes on the theme of Art & Animals in the Age of AI and Bio-Engineering with the School of Machines, Making & Make-Believe | How do artists, designers and activists use artificial intelligence, virtual reality, robotics, synthetic biology, the blockchain or gaming to probe and communicate techno-scientific developments? To investigate the shifting paradigms of the living, thinking world? To make us accept that time has come to co-evolve in a more sympathetic and mutually beneficial way with other living entities, whether “natural”, lab-grown or hybrid? | Mon, Apr 6, 2020, 7:00 PM – Mon, May 4, 2020, 9:00 PM CEST – https://tinyurl.com/w9y6d2v

Distant Movement(s) | A series of performances experimenting with online togetherness and the possibility to experience dance in front of a screen, while we close our eyes. Exploring, being attentive and dancing together are the key concepts of this artistic experience. The project originated in 2018 from a combination of two different approaches, both anchored in exploring bodily sensation. Daniel Pinheiro and Annie Abrahams are interested in the limits and possibilities of online collaboration and communication and use telematic performance as a tool to understand more about it – https://distantmovements.tumblr.com/dm

Peoples Bank of Govanhill | Join us for remote exchange and collective imagining | Drawing Workshop | Monday 13th April 3pm | Join artists Raman Mundair and Ailie Rutherford to collectively imagine a post-capitalist future DRAWING WORKSHOP | This moment of global crisis and the Covid pandemic is likely to transform capitalism as we know it. While this is a difficult time for all of us, times of crisis can also open up space for new possibilities to emerge. It is in these times that large collective shifts in consciousness are possible and major shifts in political and economic structures can happen. We are already seeing lower pollution levels, reduced consumption and new mutual care networks. What else do we imagine happening that didn’t seem possibly before? https://tinyurl.com/wzua7vu

OPEN CALL FOR ART! In response to COVID-19 | Amplifier is launching an emergency open call for artwork around the themes of Public Health & Safety or Mental Health & Well-being. Throughout the month of April, 30 artists will be selected to receive $1k awards, starting next week! I’ll be one of the guest curators for this project, alongside Nancy Spector and Hank Willis Thomas. You can submit and vote on artwork here: bit.ly/globalopencall. These symbols will stand long after the virus is gone as a testament to our resilience, join Amplifier in this historic moment by submitting! – https://tinyurl.com/yx3v3nmb

Michael Szpakowski | Visit his latest phtographs on Flicker. An artist, composer & writer. His music has been performed all over the UK, in Russia & the USA. He has exhibited work in galleries in the UK, mainland Europe & the USA. His short films have been shown throughout the world. He is a joint editor of the online video resource DVblog – https://www.flickr.com/photos/szpako/

#Covid Creatives Toolkit: Mutual aid for digital spaces | Set up by Kat Braybrooke | A set of carefully-curated mutual aid resources, ideas and pathways for creative practitioners (including artists, makers, curators, designers, hackers, educators, facilitators, etc) who find themselves needing to migrate their practice onto digital spaces and places. The kit’s 7 sections are intended to support different aspects of this journey, from digital gathering to digital well-being – https://tinyurl.com/reakdoz

Books, Papers & Publications

Digitize and Punish: Racial Criminalization in the Digital Age | Brian Jefferson | Brian Jefferson explores the history of digital computing and criminal justice, revealing how big tech, computer scientists, university researchers, and state actors have digitized carceral governance over the past forty years. He shows how digital technology has expanded the wars on crime and drugs, enabling our current state of mass incarceration and further entrenching the nation’s racialized policing and punishment. Brian Jefferson is associate professor of geography and geographic information science at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign | University of Minnesota Press – https://tinyurl.com/ugkj2dq

Museums Inside Out: Artist Collaborations and New Exhibition Ecologies | Mark W. Rectanus | Rectanus investigates how museums are blurring the boundaries between their gallery walls and public spaces. He examines how artists are challenging and changing museums, taking readers deep into new experiments in exhibition making while also offering insights about how museums currently exemplify the fusion of the creative and digital economies. Museums Inside Out introduces a new vocabulary to understand the place of artists in redefining and contesting the museum in the context of globalization and the creative economy | University of Minnesota Press – https://tinyurl.com/tbwmgmq

Embodied Computing: Wearables, Implantables, Embeddables, Ingestibles | Edited by Isabel Pedersen and Andrew Iliadis | Practitioners and scholars explore ethical, social, and conceptual issues arising in relation to such devices as fitness monitors, neural implants, and a toe-controlled computer mouse. The contributors examine technologies that range from fitness monitors to neural implants to a toe-controlled mouse. They discuss topics that include the policy implications of ingestibles; the invasive potential of body area networks, which transmit data from bodily devices to the internet; cyborg experiments, linking a human brain directly to a computer; the evolution of the ankle monitor and other intrusive electronic monitoring devices; fashion tech, which offers users an aura of “cool” in exchange for their data; and the “final frontier” of techno-supremacism: technologies that seek to read our minds | MIT Press – https://tinyurl.com/s6bjrt6

The filth and the fury: punk graphics – in pictures | Guardian | Andrew Krivine has been collecting punk memorabilia since 1977. His book Too Fast to Live Too Young to Die contains over 650 posters, flyers, record sleeves and adverts, charting a DIY ethos that changed graphic design for ever | The book is published on 2 April by Pavilion Books – https://tinyurl.com/ut4aqn4

Articles, Interviews, Blogs, Presentations, videos

Is Accelerationism a Gateway Aesthetic to Fascism? On the Rise of Taboo in Contemporary Art | By Dorian Batycka | What does cancel culture have to do with the rise of techno-futurism and accelerationist ideas in contemporary art? Art critic Dorian Batycka analyzes the recent uptick in accelerationist inspired artworks, examining their manifestation in exhibitions such as the 6th Athens Biennale and the 9th Berlin Biennale, asking to what extent ideas inspired by the accelerationist philosopher Nick Land, have led to proto-fascist ideas percolating within the realm of contemporary art. Download PDF – https://tinyurl.com/rxusqrk

Tales of a DisCO, Straight from the Dancefloor | By Timothy McKeon and Sara Escribano | Guerilla Translation | DisCOs are a commons-oriented, feminist, cooperative way for people to work together. A set of ideals and criteria for ensuring that patterns of oppression and violence that permeate our society are not replicated within intentional, cooperative spaces. DisCOs systematize fairness and the recognition of care work. They help to keep projects geared towards the common good, towards the Commons. DisCOs are essentially a system, but systems are best understood when implemented and that’s where Guerrilla Translation comes in. Our small translation collective is the first DisCO—the pilot project – https://t.co/foEgIV4C2I?amp=1

Excursion to an Alien World | Living with Plan B | Blog post by Aileen Deirig disussing life since living in a commune in Spain | “Calafou has been described as giving the impression of a post-apocalyptic scene, and post-capitalist is one of the self-descriptions. As I have been living in Calafou since the end of last August, this has become so normal that it can feel quite jarring to go to other places and find that they are still pre-apocalyptic and apparently haven’t got the memo yet that capitalism is dying. When I stepped out of a train last Monday evening and found myself in the midst of a brightly illuminated shopping mall, I felt I had landed uncomfortably on the wrong planet.” Read on – https://tinyurl.com/wxzozao

Mutual aid for those who have lost work | Pirate Care Network | pirate.care.syllabus  ▒▒▒ 🐙 | Outlined forms of mutual aid to help those who are precarious and currently have no source of income, those who are being laid off, and in general those who have not enough money. It includes propositions where to start if you want to mutualise money, resources and labour — a solidarity fund, a common wallet, shared purchases, a library of things, common.coin, time bank and labour related legal and union support. All this assumes strikes at the point of production, circulation and care work, rent strikes, and demands for a universal sick pay and a quarantine universal basic income – https://tinyurl.com/vgehfbm

Ann Pettifor on Coronavirus Capitalism | Interview with author and campaigner Ann Pettifor, getting her take on the economic consequences of Coronavirus. I specifically ask Ann about the prospects of a debt write down, and whether we may be able to achieve lasting change from the embers of this crisis to capitalism. Hope & Action’s new Vodcasts, explore the need for urgent economic change. Join filmmakers Dan Edelstyn & Hilary Powell as they debate ideas of how to attack the financial crisis with leading thinkers | Youtube – https://tinyurl.com/roctuw4

Ideas to resist | CCCB Lab | Some inspiration to lift our mood during the days of confinement we’re experiencing in certain parts of the world. A couple of weeks before confinement started we asked some of our collaborators to send us inspiring texts to offset the wave of bad news about the current state of the world. We wanted to publish a plural post to inspire hope and optimism, with essential questions, bright ideas and simple solutions. This is the result, in the midst of the global pandemic with consequences and lessons that will define the near future | Víctor Recort Berta Gómez Santo Tomás Albert Lloreta João França Joana Moll Tania Adam Lucas Ramada Prieto Toni Navarro Míriam Hatibi – http://lab.cccb.org/en/ideas-to-resist/

This Is Not the Apocalypse You Were Looking For | Laurie Penny | Pop culture has been inundated with catastrophe porn for decades. None of it has prepared us for our new reality. For years, angry young idiots have fantasised about a shit-hits-the-fan collapse of civilisation scenario, where men would be real men again, and women would be grateful. But in this crisis, our heroes are not soldiers -they are healers and carers | Wired – https://tinyurl.com/uoswgws

Socialism in a time of pandemics | International Socialism | Joseph Choonara’s analysis of the Covid-19 crisis looks at the history of epidemics, the origins of the coronavirus in capitalist development and agriculture, what the outbreak means for the world economy and how the left can respond. “Above all, a pandemic on this scale intensifies the pre-existing fault lines of capitalism. At the most basic level it poses a choice: defend profits or save lives. The indications, thus far, are that the former has been the overriding priority for those presiding over the system. This article explores how pandemics enmesh with the logic of capital and offers some potential responses from the left | https://tinyurl.com/r6owqay

The Political Possibility of Sound. Interview with Salomé Voegelin  | By Leandro Pisano | Digicult | What are the political potentials of listening? How does sound define the crossing of the territories of contemporaneity, of the differences in race, gender, social belonging? How can we, in the invisible depth of sound, define our belonging to the contemporary world, taking an active position in issues that concern ethics, subjectivity, the principles of collective and individual living? After attempting to define a series of possible philosophical and post-phenomenological approaches to sound art in the previous two books – Listening to Noise and Silence: Towards a Philosophy of Sound Art (Continuum, 2010), and Sonic Possible Worlds: Hearing the Continuum of Sound (Bloomsbury, 2014) – the Swiss writer and artist Salomé Voegelin continues her analysis on listening practices, in a new book entitled The Political Possibility of Sound: Fragments of Listening (Bloomsbury) whose themes juxtapose and which reflects on the encounter between political processes and the sounds we are constantly immersed in – https://tinyurl.com/t9xzszo

Pandemic Inequalities, Pandemic Demands | By weareplanc |  We need to recognise that ‘staying at home’ doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone. For some, homes are a sanctuary. For others, the home is another place of work, where cooking, cleaning and childcare take up the majority of their time and energy. There are many for whom the home is a place of danger, with time outside, if possible, being a respite from abuse. For people with mental or physical illness, for the elderly and disabled, the isolation they may face through being confined to the home can be deeply unhealthy, at times terrifying. Some people don’t have homes at all; being shunted from one sofa to another, sleeping in night shelters or out on the streets are dangerous “options” during this pandemic for those that have few already – https://bit.ly/2wJnynq

Is This a Dress Rehearsal? | Bruno Latour | The unforeseen coincidence between a general confinement and the period of Lent is still quite welcome for those who have been asked, out of solidarity, to do nothing and to remain at a distance from the battle front. This obligatory fast, this secular and republican Ramadan can be a good opportunity for them to reflect on what is important and what is derisory. . . . It is as though the intervention of the virus could serve as a dress rehearsal for the next crisis, the one in which the reorientation of living conditions is going to be posed as a challenge to all of us, as will all the details of daily existence that we will have to learn to sort out carefully. I am advancing the hypothesis, as have many others, that the health crisis prepares, induces, incites us to prepare for climate change. This hypothesis still needs to be tested – https://tinyurl.com/s2y9hcp

Image: An assemblage from an excellent collection of photographs taken by Michael Szpakowski. https://www.flickr.com/photos/szpako/

The FurtherList Archives
https://www.furtherfield.org/the-furtherlist-archives/

An Online Course for Developing Long-term Peer-to-Peer Health Strategies from within an Emergency

The Hologram is a viral distribution system for non-expert healthcare. Its protocol ensures that all caretakers are cared for, and regards properly supporting someone else’s wellbeing as therapeutic in itself.

This project was developed by a group of exhausted and anxious US artists, organizers and healers who experienced housing insecurity, inconsistent healthcare and massive debt, forced to scrounge and scam for care in between gigs.

The Hologram now lives on by different names with and through these people in venues all over the world. This workshop is aimed at anyone who is interested, and whose precariousness and fear of the (non-)future is the most reliable part of their life.

It is especially aimed at those whose waged or unwaged work is to transform the imagination (including artists, organizers, teachers, and activists). The wish is for all participants to connect to an “intentional community in exile” by learning to trust others in the same situation, and to rely on them for help navigating a world based on the capitalist sabotage of our health and thriving.

In a series of four free evening sessions, we will practice and discuss social skills, values, and priorities that are central to the Hologram model. These are powers that we may have forgotten or sold while fighting for our individual financial survival.

The course will involve a collective exploration of participants’ health as a common phenomenon. Each person will leave the course empowered to assemble and participate in their own Hologram and to network it with others.

BOOKING ESSENTIAL

Please note The Hologram talk and workshops are now taking place online due to pandemic restrictions. Contact info@furtherfield.org if you need any further information or assistance.

About the course co-facilitators

Cassie Thornton is an artist and activist who makes a “safe space” for the unknown, for disobedience and for unanticipated collectivity. She uses social practices including institutional critique, insurgent architecture, and “healing modalities” like hypnosis and yoga to find soft spots in the hard surfaces of capitalist life. Cassie has invented a grassroots alternative credit reporting service for the survivors of gentrification, has hypnotized hedge fund managers, has finger-painted with the grime found inside banks, has donated cursed paintings to profiteering bankers, and has taught feminist economics to yogis (and vice versa). She has worked in close collaboration with freelance curators and producers including Taraneh Fazeli, Magdalena Jadwiga Härtelova, Dani Admiss, Amanda Nudelman, Misha Rabinovich, Caitlin Foley, and Laurel Ptak. Her projects, invited and uninvited, have appeared at (or in collaboration with) Transmediale Festival for Media Arts, San Francisco MoMA, West Den Haag, Moneylab, Swissnex San Francisco, Pro Arts Gallery & Commons, Dream Farm Commons, Furtherfield, Gallery 400, Strike Debt Bay Area, Red Bull Detroit, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, Flux Factory, Bemis Center for the Arts, Berliner Gazette and more.

Lita Wallis is a youth worker, organiser, and informal educator based in London. Whether in work or her personal life, Lita has spent much of her time experimenting with different shapes of supportive relationships (eg. cooperatives, triangles, flows and webs.) She is still working on ways to build sustainable support networks that challenge isolating social norms, and then how to commit to them in a social context that is so hostile to putting down roots. Four years ago she and two friends made a lifelong commitment to The Tripod, a platonic support system, which aims to provide much of the financial, emotional and housing support that many people end up relying on couple relationships for. She hopes to bring some learning from this experience, plus some seeds of inspiration from her work with young people and her avid sci-fi habit, to set founding Hologram members fourth in good stead.

The Hologram is part of Furtherfield’s three-year Citizen Sci-Fi programme crowdsourcing creative and technological visions of our communities and public spaces, together.

2020 is the year of Love Machines, nurturing living and machine systems for mutual care and respect on earth and beyond.

As the Covid-19 global pandemic hits, we would like to offer our help to arts organisations and individuals who need to speedily pivot their programmes to digitally accessible models. At Furtherfield we have more than 20 years experience of the conceptual, technical and financial issues of producing arts programmes that straddle digital and physical space.

Over 1-hour online consultation calls we can assess what is at stake in arts projects previously planned for public venues and advise on suitable ways to transfer the work online. Our aim is to find active solutions that suit the work itself as well as the organisation and audience. There is no one-size-fits-all answer to questions of digital programming but we’d like to help you quickly and efficiently find the answer to yours. 

Each call will be offered for a flat fee of £250 and will be with both Artistic Director Ruth Catlow and Executive Director Charlotte Frost. Please contact us now to schedule a call (info@furtherfield.org). 50% of income from calls will go towards honouring fees for artists within our own programmes.

Featured Image:
The Blockchain – Change Everything Forever, 2016
Still from a Furtherfield film directed by Pete Gomes

CultureStake is a web-based voting and connection system for decentralised cultural decision-making and investment.

Please DONATE to CultureStake by participating in the Gitcoin CLR matching experiment for funding public goods.

Your donation goes a LONG way!

Using quadratic voting on the blockchain, CultureStake’s playful front-end interface allows everyone to vote on the types of cultural activity they would like to see in their locality.

CultureStake democratises arts commissioning by providing communities and artists with a way to make cultural decisions together. It does this by giving communities a bigger say in the activities provided in their area, and by connecting artists and cultural organisations to better information about what is meaningful in different localities.

Using the CultureStake app, people are invited to consider the social and cultural relevance of particular artworks to their localities. And they are given a way to rank how strongly they feel about artworks and the issues they raise. Votes are tracked and made visible, giving evidence of the types of projects communities would most value.

Currently, major artists and cultural sponsors have the upper hand and this can result in one-size-fits-all ‘blockbuster’ programming. CultureStake is a practical response to a growing demand for greater transparency about how, and in whose interest, decisions about the public good are made. It opens the field for experimentation, for robust and sustainable alternatives to centralised and private decision-making practices.

The ultimate vision for CultureStake is that governance and funding of culture are put into the hands of audiences, artists and venues, acting together in and across localities and time.

In this way, we hope to increase a shared sense of agency, imagination, and alliances.

CultureStake Pilot at Leeds International Festival 2020

The CultureStake pilot is commissioned by the Leeds International Festival 2020 as part of Furtherfield’s Future Fairness. This is a family-friendly fair of art and technology activities to examine the future of the world we live in, and to invite participants to choose what they want to see in Leeds in the future. 

Using the CultureStake voting app they will decide together which project they would like to see commissioned on a larger scale in Leeds. 

CultureStake Uses Quadratic Voting and the Blockchain

Quadratic voting (QV) was developed as an improvement on one-person-one-vote collective decision-making processes. It attempts to address the associated “tyranny of the majority” problems and data loss about voter intentions (so well understood by Post Brexit citizens of the UK). 

The significance of election and referenda results are dangerously open to interpretation and manipulation by authorities. By providing more information QV has the potential to allow communities of people to better understand what vote results say about their values and intentions.

How Does Quadratic Voting Work?

All participants receive the same limited number of voting credits that they can distribute to express nuanced preferences. For this reason, voters only use their voting credits on things that matter to them. The quadratic system also enables participants to express the intensity of their preferences for all options, but it costs them proportionately (quadratically) more credits to express strong feelings. (See table)

The CultureStake system will store voting data about each artwork on the Ethereum blockchain (a cryptographically secured distributed database) to guarantee ongoing access to tamper-proof public data. 

CultureStake tests the ability of QV on the blockchain to produce trusted voting data – secure, transparent, and permanent – about culture experienced in places.

> Voting creates communally-owned information about what matters to people on the culture that happens in places.

> Voting contributes to shared knowledge about collective preferences, attitudes, and values.

Software

CultureStake Software is published under a GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 AGPL-3.0

Main Repository URL: https://github.com/lazaruslabs/culturestake

Smart Contracts Repository URL: https://github.com/lazaruslabs/culturestake-contracts

Subgraph Repository URL: https://github.com/lazaruslabs/culturestake-subgraph

Infrastructure Provisioning URL: https://github.com/lazaruslabs/culturestake-provisioning

Credits

CultureStake is a DECAL/Furtherfield project. 

Concept by Ruth Catlow, Charlotte Frost & Marc Garrett. Contributions by Sam Hart, Irene Lopez de Vallejo, Gretta Louw, Rhea Myers, Stacco Troncoso, and Ann Marie Utratel. 

Technical development by Sarah Friend & Andreas Dzialocha.

Visual identity by Studio Hyte

Birbirine hiper güçlü ağlarla bağlanmış bir dünyada yerel ötesi bir dayanışma kurmayı hedefleyen Birleşik Krallık, Sırbistan, Türkiye ve Yunanistan’dan sanatçılar arasındaki iş birliği ve bilgi paylaşımından doğan çalışmaların sergisi.

EXHIBITION NOW ONLINE

Exhibition Catalogue

SEE IMAGES FROM THE PRIVATE VIEW

TransLocal Cooperation exhibition, Connect for Creativity from Furtherfield on Vimeo.

Yerel Ötesi İş Birlikleri nedir?

Dünyamız hiper güçlü bağlarla birbirine bağlandıkça çok sayıda gerçek ve sanal mekânda eşzamanlı olarak bulunmak ya da bunların arasında seyahat etmek mümkün hâle geldi. Bunun sonucunda giderek artan bir hızla kendimizi birden fazla yer ya da kültürle özdeşleştirmeye başladık. Küreselleşmenin bu sosyal ve kültürel boyutu, genellikle belli bir yerde düzenlenen etkinliklerin, o yere özgü koşulların ve niteliklerin büyük bir hızla başka bir yeri etkilemesi ve o yerle bağlantı kurulmasını sağlaması anlamında ‘yerel ötesilik’ şeklinde tanımlanıyor.

Bu sergi ve bünyesindeki eserler, yerel ötesi topluluklarımızla ve onların kendileri arasındaki mesafeleri ve farklılıkları dikkate alarak nasıl örgütlenebileceğimizi ele alıyor. Sergi, Birleşik Krallık, Sırbistan, Türkiye ve Yunanistan’dan sanatçıların, Türkiye’de ATÖLYE, Yunanistan’da BIOS ve Sırbistan’da Nova Iskra yaratıcı platformlarının ev sahipliği yaptığı sanat ve teknoloji rezidans programları sırasında yarattıkları çalışmalardan bir seçkiye yer veriyor. Bu sanat eserleri çoğul kimliklerimizi ve onların yaratıcı dışavurumlarını nasıl kucaklayabileceğimiz, daha fazla iş birliği ve empati kurmak için oluşan yeni bağlantıları nasıl kullanabileceğimiz ve paylaşabileceğimiz sorularını yöneltiyor.

Kendileri de yerel ötesi olan Birleşik Krallık, Sırbistan, Türkiye ve Yunanistan’dan küratör ekibimizin sergilenmek üzere seçtiği eserler, sanal gerçeklikten üç boyutlu baskıya, probiyotik fermantasyondan etnografik dokümantasyona çok farklı araçlardan ve teknolojilerden yararlanarak yaratıldı. Sanatçılar, zaman ve mekândan koparılmış insanların, kültürlerin ve fikirlerin karşı karşıya oldukları güçlükleri görselleştirerek bu güçlüklerin hızla değişen bir dünyada yerel-ötesi dayanışma ve bilgi alışverişi için nasıl yeniden değerlendirileceğini ve oluşturulacağını inceliyor.

Simdi ve burada, geçmişte ve orada, Türkiye’de Hasankeyf’in sular altında kalması ve insanların yerlerinden edilmeleri ile Sırbistan’ın Belgrad şehrinde yaşayanların evlerinden tahliye edilerek yerlerinden edilmeleri arasındaki geçişkenliklere uzanan sanatçılar, bu proje vesilesiyle küreselleşmenin belli yerel topluluklar üzerindeki etkilerini inceliyorlar. Daha da önemlisi, bazı yerel kaygıların sınırlar ve kültürler ötesi izdüşümlerini, yansımalarını ve bağlantılarını ortaya çıkarmayı hedefliyorlar.

Connect for Creativity 

Connect for Creativity, British Council önderliğinde Türkiye’den ATÖLYE ve Abdullah Gül Üniversitesi, Yunanistan’dan BIOS ve Sırbistan’dan Nova Iskra ortaklığıyla yürütülen ve 18 ay boyunca devam eden bir proje. Proje, Yunus Emre Enstitüsü tarafından yürütülen ve Avrupa Birliği ile Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’nin ortak finanse ettiği Kültürlerarası Diyalog Programı çerçevesinde hayata geçirilmektedir. Proje, Avrupa’da yaratıcı platformlardan oluşan bir ağ kurmak ve böylelikle daha uyum içinde, açık ve kenetlenmiş bir sivil toplum yaratmaya katkıda bulunacak yaratıcı keşif ve işbirliği olanaklarını desteklemeyi amaçlamaktadır.

Connect for Creativity Sanat ve Teknoloji Rezidans Programı, Birleşik Krallık, Sırbistan, Türkiye ve Yunanistan’dan sanatçıları, kültürlerarası iş birliği deneyimine odaklanmaları amacıyla bir araya getirdi. Dörder sanatçıya ev sahipliği yapan Atina, Belgrad ve İstanbul’da eş zamanlı olarak gerçekleşen program, toplam 12 sanatçıyı ağırladı. Son derece yoğun geçen altı haftalık rezidans programı boyunca sanatçılar, iş birliği ağlarıyla birbirine bağlanmış bir kültürün modern dünyaya egemen olan belirsizlik ve değişimiyle başa çıkmak için yakınlaşmayı nasıl sağlayabileceği sorununu ele aldı.

Sergi Mekânı

Eserler, Finsbury Park’ın ortasında bulunan Furtherfield Gallery’de sergilenecektir. Furtherfield Gallery, haftada aşağı yukarı 55 bin kişi tarafından ziyaret edilen bu kent parkının tam kalbinde yer alıyor ve Londra’nın yerel olarak neredeyse 200 dilin konuşulduğu üç semtinin sınırlarının ‘süper mozaik’ olarak anılan kesişim noktasında bulunuyor. Bölge, Birleşik Krallık’ta Türkiye ve Yunanistan göçmen nüfusun en yoğun olduğu mahalle ve Birleşik Krallık’taki en kalabalık Sırp topluluğun yaşadığı Batı Londra bölgesinin hemen yanında yer alıyor.

Eserler

Açık Bir Gazete (Bir hareketi tahliye edemezsiniz.) – Theo Prodromidis (Theodoros Karyotis, Tonia Katerini, Stathis Mitropoulos, Nemanja Pantović ve Ana Vilenica ile ortak çalışma)

Sırbistan’da konutlardan tahliyelerdeki muazzam artışa yol açan süreçleri ele alan bu çalışma, kişisel konutları korumaya dair yasal çerçevenin Nisan 2020’de ‘vadesinin dolacak olması’ nedeniyle Yunanistan’daki güncel durumla da bağlantı kuruyor. Kolektif çalışma sonucu ortaya çıkmış olan bu baskı eser, giderek tırmanan küresel konut krizi bağlamında yaşanan mücadelelerle ilgili bir bilgi aracı işlevi görüyor.

Download and distribute your own copies now

Probiyotik Ritüeller – Ioana Man

Şehirler karmaşık ekosistemlerdir ve içlerindeki insanların varoluşu, bakımın çeşitli katmanlara yayılan ilişkilerle sağlanmasına bağlıdır. Probiyotik Ritüeller şehirde insandan-daha-fazlasını temsil eden bir yaşam için yeni gelenekler oluşturmayı amaçlıyor. Ölçeği büyütülmüş mikroplar, artırılmış gerçeklik arayüzü, bir internet sitesi ve bir dizi ritüel, gözlemci konumundaki insanı biyosferde bir vızıltı ile aynı konuma indirger ve toplumun mikroskopik hayata olan bağımlılığı gösterir. Birden fazla türün dâhil olduğu ritüeller ve görseller, şehrin daha küçük sakinleriyle birlikte yaşamayı güçlendirecek bir süreç ortaya koyar.

Öz Yaratım: Birlikte Oluşmanın Katmanları – Yağmur Uyanık

British Museum’daki iki ‘özgün’ heykelin dijital modellerini birleştirerek yaratılmış melez bir karakterin üç boyutlu baskı sonucu elde edilmiş kumtaşı heykeli: Makedonyalı III. İskender (Büyük İskender olarak anılır) ve antik Yunanlı Periskles. Öz Yaratım, ses ve heykeli bütünleştirerek kültürel bilgi yaratımının, yayılımının ve korunmasının coğrafi bağlamları, yerinden edilmişlik biçimlerini ve devletsizliği nasıl ön plana çıkardığını ortaya koyuyor. Kişisel anlatının ve kolektif belleğin kültürel mülkiyet, kültürel değer ve onlara içkin sembolik anlamlar sayesinde nasıl biçimlendirildiğini irdeliyor.

Bilinç Akışı / Hasankeyf‘in Mağaraları – Emmy Bacharach

Sanal gerçeklik deneyimi biçiminde olan bu çalışma, Türkiye’nin güneydoğusunda bulunan antik yerleşim bölgesi Hasankeyf’in yerel ve yerel ötesi önemine dikkat çekiyor. Yerleşim bölgesi, Dicle nehrinin sularının yükselmesine neden olacak Ilısu Barajı yüzünden sular altında kalarak yok olma tehdidi altında. Fotogrametri yöntemi ve bölgeden toplanan görsel malzemelerle Hasankeyf’in temsilini yaratan çalışmada ziyaretçilere, çoğu kısa süre sonra sular altında kalacak olan mağaraların benzersiz ortamıyla ilgili bir resim çiziliyor. Mağaralar yavaş yavaş suyla dolarken, bu deneyimi suyun bakış açısından yaşayan ziyaretçiler, aynı zamanda yerlerinden edilmiş yerel halkın travmasını da hissetmiş oluyor.

Taşa Kazınmış – Tamara Kametani

GDPR (Avrupa Birliği’nin Genel Veri Koruma Tüzüğü) kapsamında ‘unutulma hakkı’, herhangi bir kişinin bazı tartışmalı durumlarda kendisiyle ilgili olumsuz bilgilerin arama listelerinden silinmesini talep edebilmesi anlamına gelir. Taşa Kazınmış, maddelerin, yerel ötesi kültürlerin maddi değilmiş gibi görünen boyutları üzerindeki etkisi üstünde şiirsel bir meditasyon oluşturur. İnternet ortamında hem mahremiyet hem de ifade özgürlüğünün meşru ve gayrimeşru kullanımlarıyla ilgili hararetli tartışmalar devam ederken, bu çalışma Atina mermerine elle işlenmiş verilerin ömrü ile ilgili cümleler kuruyor ve böylelikle eylemlerin hem çevrimiçi hem de çevrimdışı ortamdaki sonuçlarını tarihsel olarak düşündürmeyi hatta belleğe kazımayı amaçlıyor.

Kurtuluş’a Dört Durak – Georgios Makkas

Bu çok kanallı video, 20 bini aşan Rum nüfusu nedeniyle eskiden beri ‘Küçük Atina’ olarak anılan Kurtuluş mahallesini ele alıyor. Günümüzde de bu kozmopolit mahalle, Rum nüfusun etkisi ve sayısı giderek azalmakla birlikte Türk, Rum, Ermeni, Kürt ve Musevi toplulukların yaygın olarak yaşadığı bir mahalle olmaya devam ediyor. Makkas’ın hâlâ bu mahallede yaşamayı sürdüren Rumlarla yaptığı görüşmeleri merkeze alan çalışması, ebediyen yok olacak bir şeyleri belgelendirme fırsatını değerlendirerek eski Kurtuluş’un belleğini korumayı amaçlıyor.

Küratörler

Ruth Catlow, Lina Džuverović, Diana Georgiou, Huma Kabakcı

Sergi Ortakları

Furtherfield
Furtherfield, Londra’nın en uzun süredir faaliyette olan sanat ve teknoloji (adem-i) merkezi. 20 yılı aşan deneyimimiz, 50’den fazla sergimiz ve 100’den fazla uluslararası ortaklığımızla alternatif örgütlenme ve ortak yaratım sistemlerinde uzmanlık geliştirdik. BBC, Guardian, New Scientist, Wired, Art Newspaper ve Hyperallergic çalışmalarımıza yayınlarında yer verdi. Piccadilly Metro Hattı haritasında Buckingham Sarayı’nın yanı sıra görülmesi gereken yerler arasında gösterilen Furtherfield Gallery, gelir eşitsizliğinin en yüksek oranlarda seyrettiği Haringey semtinde bulunuyor. İnsanlara hayatlarına ve yaşadıkları yere ortaklaşa sahip oldukları hissini veren çalışmalar üretmeye çalışıyoruz.
furtherfield.org

British Council
British Council, Birleşik Krallık’ın kültürel ilişkiler ve eğitim fırsatlarından sorumlu uluslararası kuruluşudur. 100’ü aşkın ülkeyle, kültür-sanat, İngilizce, eğitim ve sivil toplum alanlarında çalışmaktadır. Geçen yıl 65 milyondan fazla kişiyle yüz yüze, 731 milyonun üzerinde kişiyle de internet üzerinden, radyo ve TV programları ve basılı yayınlarla iletişim kurdu. Fırsatlar yaratarak, bağlantılar kurarak ve güven inşa ederek değiştirdiği yaşamlarla, beraber çalıştığımız ülkelere olumlu katkılar sunuyor. 1934 yılında kurulan British Council, Kraliyet Tüzüğü ile tüzel kişilik kazanmış bir hayır kurumu ve bir kamu kuruluşudur. Gelirinin yüzde 15’i ise Birleşik Krallık hükümeti tarafından karşılanmaktadır.
https://www.britishcouncil.org.tr

ATÖLYE
ATÖLYE, ödüllü Stratejik Tasarım Stüdyosu’nu canlı bir topluluk aracılığıyla iş birlikleri geliştiren Yaratıcı Platform’unun içine yerleştiren ve 21. yüzyıla ait yaratıcı hizmetler geliştiren bir organizasyondur. ATÖLYE, 2020’den itibaren değişimin öncülerini güçlendirmeyi amaçlayan Akademi’yi de hayata geçirmiştir. ATÖLYE, aynı zamanda, ekonomiyi ve toplumu harekete geçirecek yaratıcılığa kaynak olmak amacıyla kurulmuş ve stratejik olarak seçilerek özenle bir araya getirilmiş yaratıcı şirketlerden oluşan bir kolektif olan kyu Collective’in de bir parçasıdır. ATÖLYE’nin üstlendiği projeler strateji, tasarım, mimari ve teknoloji alanlarında yaratıcı danışmanlığın bütün açılarını kapsamaktadır. ATÖLYE, bu hizmetleri modern ve eşsiz bir yetenek ağı ile sunar. ATÖLYE, aynı zamanda Avrupa Yaratıcı Platformlar Ağı’nın yönetim kurulunda temsil edilen bir üyesidir. https://atolye.io/en/home/

BIOS
BIOS, Atina’da günümüz sanatı ve çapraz medyaları üzerine uzmanlaşmış bir merkezdir. BIOS iki konser sahnesi, dört barı, tiyatro ve performans mekânları, prova alanları, grafik tasarım ofisi, sinema ve enstalasyon alanıyla esnek, çok amaçlı bir merkez konumundadır.
https://www.bios.gr/

Nova Iskra
Nova Iskra, Balkanlar’da öncü bir yaratıcı platformdur. Nova Iskra, yaratıcı endüstriler, teknoloji ve insanlar arasında elle tutulur bağlantılar kurulmasını destekleyerek eleştirel düşünmeyi teşvik etme, fikirleri besleme, sürekli değişen günümüz koşullarına karşı duyarlılığını korurken gelecekte ayakta kalabilecek kurumlar tasarlama ve işletmeler kurma amacıyla kurulmuştur.
https://novaiskra.com/en/

Abdullah Gül University
Abdullah Gül Üniversitesi (AGÜ), Türkiye’de ilk vakıf destekli devlet üniversitesi modeli ile 21 Temmuz 2010 tarihinde kurulmuştur. Üniversite, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’nin ilk ve en büyük sanayi yerleşkelerinden biri olan Sümerbank Bez Fabrikası’nın eğitim kampüsüne dönüşümü projesidir. İlk öğrencilerini 2013-2014 akademik yılında almıştır. Üniversitenin ikinci kampüsü olan Mimar Sinan Kampüsü’nün yapımı da devam etmektedir. Kayseri’ye yeni bir devlet üniversitesi kazandırılmasına yönelik çalışmalar, Büyükşehir Belediye Başkanlığı girişimiyle bir araya gelen Kayseri’nin kanaat önderleri tarafından 2007 yılında başlatılmıştır. Üniversitenin, kalkınması ve girişimciliği ile Türkiye’de örnek gösterilen Kayseri’nin vizyonuna uygun olarak, kenti eğitimde de öne çıkarması amaçlanmıştır.
http://www.agu.edu.tr/

Merkezi Finans ve İhale Birimi (CFCU)
Türkiye’yi aday ülke olarak kabul eden 10-11 Aralık 1999 tarihli Avrupa Konseyi Helsinki Zirvesi kararının ardından, Türkiye-AB mali işbirliğinin ana çerçevesi değişmiş ve AB mali yardımları katılım öncesi amaçlarına ve nihai olarak tam üyelik hedefine yönelmiştir. Bu değişiklik Türkiye’yi CFCU’nun da içinde yer aldığı, kısaca ‘‘DIS’’ olarak bilinen ‘Merkezi Olmayan Uygulama Sistemi’ ni kurmaya yönlendirmiştir. Merkezi Finans ve İhale Birimi bir uygulayıcı kurum olarak, Avrupa Birliği tarafından finanse edilen programlar kapsamındaki tüm mal ve hizmet alımları ile yapım işi ve hibelere ilişkin projelerin genel bütçeleme, ihaleye çıkma, sözleşme, ödeme, muhasebe ve mali raporlama işlerinden sorumludur. Bir ‘Program Yetkilendirme Görevlisi’ nin sorumluluğu altında çalışan CFCU, ihalelere ilişkin AB kural, düzenleme ve usullerine bağlı kalınmasını ve düzgün bir raporlama sisteminin işlemesini temin eder.
https://www.cfcu.gov.tr/

Yunus Emre Enstitüsü
Yunus Emre Enstitüsü, Türkiye’yi, kültürel mirasını, Türk dilini, kültürünü ve sanatını tanıtmak, Türkiye’nin diğer ülkelerle ilişkilerini ve dostluğunu geliştirmek, kültürel alışverişini artırmak ve Türk dili, kültürü ve sanatı alanlarında eğitim almak isteyenlere yurt dışında hizmet vermek amacıyla kurulmuştur. Eğitim, bilim ve kültür-sanat alanlarında faaliyetlerini sürdüren Enstitü, Türkiye’nin uluslararası alanda bilinirliğini, güvenilirliğini ve itibarını artırmak misyonuyla hareket ederken dünyanın her yerinde Türkiye ile bağ kuran ve Türkiye’ye dost insan sayısını artırmayı hedeflemektedir. Yunus Emre Enstitüsü, kültürel etkileşim ve diyalogu artıracak birçok farklı proje yürütmektedir. Enstitünün Avrupa Birliği ortak fonuyla hayata geçirdiği ilk projesi olan Türkiye-AB Kültürlerarası Diyalog Programını ile Türkiye ve AB ülkeleri arasındaki kültürel alışverişin ve ilişkilerin geliştirilmesi, güçlendirilmesi hedeflenmektedir. Aynı zamanda, Yunus Emre Enstitüsü’nün Avrupa ulusal kültürel enstitüleri ve onların çatı kuruluşu EUNIC ile ilişkilerinin artmasına ve güçlenmesine yönelik çalışmalar da yürütülmektedir.
https://www.yee.org.tr/en

Kültürlerarası Diyalog
Yunus Emre Enstitüsü tarafından yürütülen ve Avrupa Birliği ile Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’nin eş finansmanı ile hayata geçen AB-Türkiye Kültürlerarası Diyalog Programı, farklı kültürlerden gelen çeşitli kurumları sanat ve kültüre tahsis edilen finansal destek sayesinde bir araya getirerek AB ve Türkiye arasında kültürel diyaloğun güçlenmesini amaçlamaktadır.
https://icd.yee.org.tr

Katılımcı Biyografileri

Emmy Bacharach mimarlık, ses, sinema ve çok boyutlu teknolojilerin kesişim noktasında duran bir mekân tasarımcısı, DJ ve görsel-işitsel sanatçı. Çalışmalarında dijital teknolojilerin yarattığı toplumsal, siyasi ve uzamsal olanakları inceliyor. Emmy, Cambridge Üniversitesi’nde mimarlık eğitimini tamamladıktan Royal College of Art’ta yüksek lisans yaptı ve bu sırada ses, animasyon ve çok boyutlu gerçeklikle tanıştı. Goldsmiths Digital Studios’taki Volumetric Ecologies: Environments, Bodies and Mediated Worlds sergisinde gösterilen enstalasyon çalışması ‘Proxy Architecture’, izleyiciyi sanal bir dünyayla çevreliyor. İstanbul’un dijital görüntülerinden oluşan bir yüzer şehir, sanal ortamın kolektif potansiyelini tartışmaya açıyor. Araştırma projesi ‘Sonic Urbanism in Detroit: Techno as a Spatial Act’ (Detroit’te Sonik Şehircilik: Mekânsal Bir Eylem Olarak Tekno) kentsel mekânların müzik alt kültürü üzerindeki etkisini araştırırken tekno üretiminin mekânsal özneliği ve Detroit’in sanayi-sonrası kentsel koşullarının ortaya çıkardığı sonik kolektifliği savunuyor. İnşa edilmiş ortamlarda verileri ve artırılmış gerçekliği inceleyen disiplinlerarası tasarım kolektifi Xcessive Aestehtics’in kurucularından biri. https://www.rca.ac.uk/students/emmy-bacharach/

Ruth Catlow, Furtherfield’in Eş Kurucu Sanat Direktörü ve özgürleştirici iş birliği kültürleri, uygulamaları ve poetikaları konusunda önde gelen bir otorite. Mekân yaratma, alternatif ekonomiler ve ortak paydalar temalarına odaklanan 60’tan fazla dijital sanat sergisinin eş küratörlüğünü üstlendi. Konferanslarda konuşmacı ve sanat, teknoloji ve toplumsal değişimi konu alan sayısız yayının yazarı olmasının yanı sıra uluslararası saygınlığa sahip Artists Re:Thinking the Blockchain’in editörlüğünü yaptı. 2019’da Ben Vickers (Serpentine Galleries) ve Goethe-Institut ile ortaklaşa geliştirdiği blok zinciri ve sanat laboratuvarı serisi DAOWO, Avrupa Yaratıcı Ekonomi Merkezi (European Centre for Creative Economy) ‘NICE’ ödülünü kazandı. Furtherfield bünyesindeki DeCentralised Arts Lab’in (DECAL) başındaki isim olarak sanatta yeni ekonomik modeller için sektörler arası ortaklıklar geliştirilmesine yönelik çalışmalar yürütüyor.

Dr Lina Džuverović, University of London’a bağlı Birkbeck College’de Sanat Politikası ve Yönetimi dalında küratör ve öğretim görevlisi olarak çalışıyor. Araştırmalarında güncel sanat evreninin dayanışma ve topluluk oluşturma platformu hâline gelmesini sağlayacak yöntemlere odaklanıyor. Lina’nın geçmiş yıllarda üstlendiği görevler arasında IZK – Institute for Contemporary Art, TU Graz, Avusturya bünyesindeki University of Reading’de öğretim görevlisi, Calvert 22 Foundation sanat direktörlüğü, Londra merkezli Electra’nın kurucu direktörlüğü, ICA ve Lux Centre, Londra ve Momentum Bienali, Norveç’te küratörlük sayılabilir. 2006’da Arts Council England tarafından verilen Decibel Mid-Career Curatorial Fellow ödülüne de lâyık görüldü.

Diana Georgiou, Londra’da yaşayan bir yazar ve küratör. Küratoryal çalışmalarında eşcinsel, feminist ve sömürgecilik karşıtı uygulamaları ve kuramları kullanarak kurumsal parametrelerin içinde ve dışında diyalogu, deneyimleri ve iş birliğini güçlendirecek karşılaşma mekânları yaratmaya çalışıyor. En son eş küratörlüğünü üstlendiği projelerden EcoFutures (Londra, 2019) ekolojik sorunların toplumsal cinsiyet, ırk ve cinsellik üzerindeki etkilerine odaklandı ve 70’ten fazla sanatçının, kuramcının ve aktivistin katılımıyla on ortak kuruluşu bir araya getirdi. Seçilmiş projelerinin arasında gezici video sanat sergisi Transitional States: Hormones at the Intersection of Art & Science (Londra, Lincoln, Barselona, Bolonya, 2017-18); Deep Trash Live Art Programme (Londra, 2017-18); düşünce, sanat ve aktivizmi konu alan ve The Showroom, ICA, Space Studios ve Raven Row’da gösterilmiş olan iki haftalık Now You Can Go (Londra, 2015) programı sayılabilir. Georgiou, University of London’a bağlı Goldsmiths’ten Görsel Kültür dalında doktora derecesine sahip ve tezi, feminist psikanalitik kuramlar ışığında sanat yazımı ve öznellik arasındaki ilişkiyi yenilikçi bir gözle değerlendiriyor.

Huma Kabakçı, 1990, Londra doğumlu ikinci nesil koleksiyoncu, bağımsız küratör ve Open Space’in kurucu direktörü. Londra ve İstanbul arasında hem işi hem de yaşamı nedeniyle mekik dokuyor. Kabakçı, London College of Communication’da Reklam ve Pazarlama üzerine aldığı lisans eğitiminin ardından Royal College of Art’ta Çağdaş Sanatta Kürasyon alanında yüksek lisans yaptı. Aralarında Sotheby’s’e bağlı Çağdaş Sanat Satış departmanı (Londra), The Albion Gallery (Londra) ve Pera Müzesi (İstanbul) olmak üzere Birleşik Krallık ve Türkiye’de bulunan pek çok galeri, müze ve müzayede evinde çalıştı. Kabakçı, Londra’daki Türkiye ve Orta Doğu çağdaş sanatına ve gelişmekte olan ülkelerin çağdaş sanat uygulamalarına özel olarak ilgi duyuyor. Küratoryal araştırmalarının merkezinde diaspora, göç, kültürel kimlik, kültürlerarası diyalog ve bellek konuları yer alıyor. Border_less, FAD Magazine, Guggenheim Blog, Istanbul Art News ve SYRUP Magazine gibi yayınlara katkı veriyor. Kabakçı 2018’de Liverpool Bienali kapsamında bir küratöryel ‘fellowship’ programı tamamladı. En yeni projesi ise kürasyonunu Inês Neto dos Santos ile birlikte üstlendiği, Open Space’de sergilenen Tender Touches (Yumuşak Dokunuşlar) (Londra) çalışması.

Tamara Kametani, Slovakya doğumlu, Londra’da yaşayan bir görsel sanatçı. Mekâna özgü sanatı merkeze alan enstalasyon, video, fotoğraf ve heykel gibi farklı mecraları kullanıyor. Çalışmalarında dert edindiği konular, iktidar ilişkileri, denetim, mahremiyet ve bilgiye erişim. Çağdaş ve tarihsel anlatıların üretilmesinde ve yeni deneyimlerin ortaya çıkarılmasında teknolojinin oynadığı role özel olarak ilgi duyuyor. 2017 yılında Royal College of Art’ta Çağdaş Sanat Uygulamaları programından yüksek lisans derecesi aldı. Kametani, çeşitli sanatçı rezidans programlarına katıldı; eserleri uluslararası düzeyde sergilendi. En son işleri ve sergileri arasında kürasyonunu AGORAMA, Londra’nın yaptığı (2019); Swayze ffect (Swayze Etkisi), Platform Southwark 404 – Resistance at Digital Age (Dijital Çağda Direniş), RAGE Collective, CFCCA, Manchester (2019); For the Time Being (Şimdilik), The Photographers’ Gallery, kürasyon CCA Royal College of Art, Londra (2019); Digital Diaspora (Dijital Diaspora), Studio 44, Stockholm (2019); Summer Show (Yaz Gösterisi), Florence Trust, Londra (2018) ve Triennial of Photography (Fotoğraf Trienali), Hamburg (2018) sayılabilir.
https://www.tamarakametani.com/

Georgios Makkas 1977’de Atina’da doğdu ve erken yaşlardan itibaren fotoğrafla yakından ilgilenmeye başladı. Birleşik Krallık, Newport’ta Belgesel Fotoğrafçılığı programından mezun oldu. Arnavutluk’un kırsal kesimlerinden kentlere göç konusundaki çalışması Observer Hodge Ödülleri’nde birinci seçildi. 2010 yılında Polonya’nın Poznan kentindeki Academy of Fine Arts’ın ’SETSE’ rezidans programına sanatçı olarak kabul edildi. İşleri, Londra’da National Portrait Gallery’de, Atina Fotoğraf Festivali’nde, Rethymno MedPhoto Festivali’nde, Valensiya Fotonoviembre’de, Reggio Emilia Fotografia Europea’da, Pordenone Le Voci dell’Inchiesta’da, New York DUMBO Arts Festivali’nde ve İstanbul Tasarım Bienali’nde sergilendi. Ayrıca Selanik Fotoğraf Müzesi’nde de kalıcı bir sergisi yer aldı. Makkas, mercek bazlı medyalar yoluyla belleğin korunmasıyla ilgileniyor. İnsanların portre fotoğraflarını çekmekten, hikâyelerini dinlemek ve filme almaktan, ayrıca kentlerin yok olan yüzlerini belgelemekten hoşlanıyor.
https://www.gmakkas.com/about/index

Ioana Man mimarlık, set tasarımı ve eleştirel uygulamalar alanlarında farklı disiplinleri bir araya getiren bir tasarımcı. Alternatif gelecekleri biçimlendirmek, yaratmak ve yeniden tahayyül etmek için mimari, set tasarımı ve ritüeller arasında yeni karşılaşmalar ortaya çıkarıyor. Bu günlerde mimarları ve uygulayıcı konumdaki bilim insanlarını mikroskopik ölçeğe daha da yaklaştıracak uzun soluklu bir proje üzerinde çalışıyor. Open Platform’un talebiyle Wellcome Collection için hazırladığı çalışması, Londra’da Architectural Association’da sergilendi.
www.ioanaman.com
www.probiotic-rituals.com

Theo Prodromidis, Yunanistan’ın Atina kentinde yaşayan bir görsel sanatçı ve yönetmen. Çalışmaları Galerija, State of Concept, Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt, 1. ve 5. Selanik Bienali, 4. Atina Bienali, Werkleitz Zentrum für Medienkunst ve Haus der Kulturen der Welt gibi galerilerde, müzelerde ve festivallerde sergilendi ve gösterildi. 2017’den bu yana National and Kapodistrian University of Athens’ta Bilim Felsefesi ve Tarihi bölümünde Risk Değişimi programında misafir sanatçı olarak görev alıyor ve Open School for Immigrants of Piraeus’ta gönüllü olarak çalışıyor. Institute Of Radical Imagination ve Solidarity Schools Network üyesi. 2019-2020 yıllarında ise Stavros Niarchos Vakfı Sanatçı Destek Programı’nda sanat eserleri kurulu üyesi olarak çalışmalarını yürütmeye devam edecek. www.theoprodromidis.info

Yağmur Uyanık San Francisco’da yaşayan mimarlık, yeni medya ve müzik alanlarında çalışan Türkiyeli bir sanatçı. Çalışmalarında ışık, ses ve mekânı kullanarak yer değiştirme araçlarını yaratıyor, böylelikle tekrarlama, süreç ve elle tutulamazlığa odaklanıyor. Amacı dijital medyanın sınırlarını, fiziksel bir deneyime dönüştürünceye kadar genişletmek. Uyanık, yüksek lisans derecesini Fulbright bursuyla okuduğu San Francisco Art Institute, Sanat ve Teknoloji bölümünden aldı. İşleri, Ars Electronica, Sonar +D, Signal Light Festival, MUTEK, Exploratorium, California Academy of Sciences ve Diego Rivera Gallery gibi enstitülerde uluslararası düzeyde sergilendi.
https://yagmuruyanik.com

Bu yayın Avrupa Birliğinin maddi desteği ile hazırlanmıştır. İçerik tamamıyla British Council’ın sorumluluğu altındadır ve Avrupa Birliğinin görüşlerini yansıtmak zorunda değildir

Furtherfield Gallery at the McKenzie Pavilion is located in the middle of Finsbury Park in North London, across the children’s playground from the cafe, next to the boating pond. Accessible between the gates near Finsbury Park Station and Manor House Station.

Изложба радова насталих кроз сарадњу и размену информација између турских, грчких, српских и британских уметника који покушавају да остваре транслокалну солидарност на локалном нивоу, у нашем хипер-повезаном свету.

EXHIBITION NOW ONLINE

Exhibition Catalogue

SEE IMAGES FROM THE PRIVATE VIEW

TransLocal Cooperation exhibition, Connect for Creativity from Furtherfield on Vimeo.

Шта подразумева појам транслокалне сарадње?

Откада је наш свет постао многоструко увезан, можемо истовремено боравити или кретати се по многоструким физичким и виртуелним просторима. Последица је да се, као појединци, све више поистовећујемо са већим бројем места или култура. Овај друштвени и културни аспект глобализације често се описује као “транслокалност”(translocality), што је ситуација у којој се догађаји, условљености и везе могу брзо преносити са једног на друго место.

Ова изложба, и радови изложени на њој, баве се питањем како се треба организовати да бисмо могли водити рачуна једни о другима, на даљину и без обзира на разлике између наших локалних заједница. Приказан је избор радова настaлих током боравака турских, грчких, српских и британских уметника на уметничким и технолошким резиденцијама, у креативним центрима какви су Радионица (ATÖLYE) у Турској, биос у Грчкој и Нова искра у Србији. Кроз ове уметничке радове, поставља се питање како можемо да подржавамо многоструке идентитете и креативне изразе кроз отварање према другима и успостављање нових веза ради јачања сарадње и ширења емпатије.

Уметничке радове одабрао је наш транслокални тим турских, грчких, српских и британских кустоса, специјално за ову изложбу која се ослања на читав низ различитих медија и технологија, од виртуелне реалности и тродимензионалног штампања, па све до пробиотичке ферментације и етнографских докумената. Уметници визуелно приказују потешкоће и проблеме народа, култура и идеја расељених у простору и времену, постављајући питања о томе како их можемо преиспитати и поново вредновати ради веће транслокалне солидарности и боље размене информација у свету који се убрзано мења.

Остављајући по страни границе између овде и сада, тамо и онда, обухватајући на истом месту поплаве и расељавања у Хасан-Кејфу у Турској и избацивање грађана из станова у у Београду, у Србији, уметници користе ову прилику да проуче и испитују ефекте глобализације на поједине земље, али и да истакну као најважније питање шта треба учинити да би се сазнања о тим локалним бригама проширила изван оквира тих заједница, како да се на њих одговори и успоставе везе неспутане границама и различитим културама.

Connect for Creativity

connectforcreativity.eu

Реч је о 18-месечном пројекту који води Британски савет, у сарадњи са Атолие и Универзитетом Абдуллах Гул у Турској, те организацијама биос у Грчкој и Нова искра у Србији. Пројекат је део програма интеркултуралног дијалога који води Институт Јунус Емре, а суфинансирају га Европска унија и Република Турска. Пројекат има за циљ формирање мреже креативних центара широм Европе, са циљем подстицања креативног истраживања и сарадње који ће допринети изградњи кохезивнијег, отворенијег и боље повезаног цивилног друштва.

Програм уметничких и технолошких резиденцијалних боравака уметника из Грчке, Србије, Турске и Велике Британије у фокусу има искуство интеркултуралне сарадње. ,,Повежи се ради креативности“ је програм који је истовремено реализиован у Атини, Београду и Истанбулу кроз симултане боравке уметника у сваком од ових градова, који су били домаћини за укупно 12 учесника. Учесници су током свеобухватног шестонедељног програма откривали како умрежене културе могу допринети јачој повезаности ради успешнијег суочавања са неизвесностима и променама које доноси савремени живот.

Локација изложбе

Уметничка дела представљена су у галерији ,,Фердерфилд“, у срцу парка Финсбури. Финсбури Парк је урбани зелени простор који сваке недеље користи око 55.000 људи, а налази се у кварту који стоји на граници три лондонска округа. За тај кварт кажу да је “супер-разноврстан”, јер се у њему говори око 200 језика који припадају великим имигрантским заједницама. У овом делу града лоциране су највеће турске и грчке заједнице у Енглеској, а повезан је и са највећом српском заједницом у Енглеској, настањеном у западном Лондону.

Уметнички радови

„Отворене новине“ (Не можете избацити покрет) Теа Продромидиса (Theo Prodromidis) – у сарадњи са Teoдоросом Кариотисом, Тоњом Катерини, Статисом Митропулосом, Немањом Пантовићем и Аном Виленицом – Açık Gazete (Отворене новине)

Ова студија, која се бави процесима који доводе до све чешће појаве избацивања људи из станова у Србији, повезује се са грчким контекстом у коме законски и правни оквир за заштиту првобитних станара „истиче“ у априлу 2020. године. Ово колективно дело, створено уз помоћ штампача, служи и делује као средство информисања о борбама које се воде у контексту све веће глобалне стамбене кризе.

Download and distribute your own copies now

Пробиотички ритуали (Probiotic Rituals) – Јоана Ман

Градови су сложени екосистеми и људско присуство у њима зависи од слојевитих односа пажње која им се посвећује. Пробиотички ритуали (Probiotic Rituals) теже стварању нових обичаја за живот људи у граду, који обухвата много више од самих односа међу људима. Скалирани микроби, интерфејс проширене реалности, вебстранице и низ других ритуала, изједначавају људског посматрача са зујањем биосфере и показују зависност заједнице од микроскопског живота. Ритуали и слике живота међу разним врстама развијају процесе за побољшање суживота у коме се обраћа пажња и на оне ситније учеснике градског живота.

Самостално стварање (Kendikendiniyetiştirme): Yağmur Uyanık – „Формирање слојева постојања са“ (Selfmaking: Layers of Becoming With)

Скулптура од пешчара, настала уз помоћ 3Д штампача, хибридног је карактера, створена спајањем дигиталних модела две “оригиналне” скулптуре у Британском музеју (British Museum): скулптуре Александра Македонског трећег (познатог као Александар Велики); и старо-грчког Перикла. “Самостално стварање” комбинује звук и скулптуру, показујући како стварање, преношење и чување културног знања почива на географским контекстима, обрасцима одлазака и останка без домовине расељавања и апатридије. Пројект приказује како се индивидуалне приче и колективно сећање обликују кроз културно власништво, културну валуту и кроз симболичка значења која су им својствена.

Ток свести – Пећине Хасанкеифа – Еми Бакарак (Emmy Bacharach), 2019.

У форми искуства виртуелне стварности, овај рад скреће пажњу на локални и транслокални значај Хасанкеифа, древног града који се налази на југу Турске, а угрожен је пројектом Бране Илису (Ilisu Barajı), која прети да подигне водостај реке Диџле и поплави овај град. Хасанкејф је представљен уз коришћење фотограметрије и визуелног материјала сакупљеног са терена, пружајући људима јединствено окружење пећина, а већина ових пећина биће временом поплављена. Публика зна шта ће вода донети, и да ће пећине полако бити потопљене – искуство које је одјекнуло траумом расељеног локалног становништва.

Уклесано у камену  – Тамара Каметани

„Право да будеш заборављен“ као део ГДПР-а (Опште уредбе Европске Уније о заштити података), указује на уклањање негативних информација са интернетских листа за претрагу у одређеним дискутабилним ситуацијама. ”Уклесано у камену” (Set In Stone) представља поетичну медитацију о утицају материјала на разлчичите аспекте транслокалних култура који су често нематеријалне природе. Док на мрежама букте полемике у вези легитимног коришћења, злоупотреба приватности и слободе говора, овај рад користи фразе о животу чињеница руком уклесаних у атински мермер, изазивајући историјске рефлексије или урезивање резултата ових акција у памћење, на мрежи и изван ње.

”Четири станице до Куртулуса” (Four stops to Kurtuluş) – Георгиос Макас (Georgios Makkas)

Овај вишеканални видео бави се округом Куртулуш, који је кроз историју био познат као „Мала Атина“ (на турском – Küçük Atina) због својих више од 20.000 становника грчког порекла. Данас је ово космополитско насеље дом турске, грчке, арменске, курдске и јеврејске заједнице, док његов историјски грчки утицај и број становника и даље опадају. Фокусиран на интервјуе са Грцима који живе у региону, Макасов рад покушава да сачува сећање на „Стари Куртулуш“ (“Еski Kurtuluş”) чиме користи прилику да документује нешто што ће ускоро заувек нестати.

Кустоси

Рут Катлоу (Ruth Catlow), Лина Џуверовић, Диана Георгију, Хума Кабакчи.

Партнери

Фердерфилд (Furtherfield)
Фердерфилд је најстарији центар за уметност и технологију у Лондону, давно основан и дубоко укорењен. Са више од 20 година искуства, преко 50 реалиѕованих изложби и више од 100 међународних партнерстава, развили смо експертизу у алтернативним системима организације и здруженог стварања. Наш рад су представили ББЦ (BBC), Гардијан (Guardian), Нови научник (New Scientist), Wired, the Art Newspaper и Hyperallergic. Истакнута на мапи подземне железнице на станици Пикадили (Piccadilly Underground line) поред главних знаменитости као што је Бакингемска палата (Buckingham Palace), галерија Фердерфилд налази се у власништву локалне управе Харингеј што је локална власт са највећом неједнакошћу у дохотку у Британији. Покушавамо да произведемо дела која људима дају осећај заједничког власништва над њиховим животима и местима у којима бораве.
https://www.furtherfield.org/

Британски савет
Британски савет је британска међународна институција која се бави британским културним односима и могућностима у области образовања. Радимо са више од 100 земаља у домену уметности и културе, енглеског језика, образовања и цивилног друштва. Прошле године директно смо стигли до више од 65 милиона људи. Ако укључимо и онлајн публикације, стижемо до 731 милиона људи. Ми дајемо позитиван допринос земљама са којима радимо отварањем могућности, успостављањем веза, стварањем атмосфере поверења и утицањем на промене у начину живота. Основана 1934. године, наша институција је јавна и добротворна организација из Велике Британије створена путем краљевског едикта. Од владе Велике Британије добијамо грант који представља 15 процената нашег основног фонда.
https://www.britishcouncil.org.tr

ATÖLYE is a 21st-century creative organization with an award-winning Strategic Design Studio that is nested within a creative hub. A is a member of the European Creative Hubs Network and is represented in the Steering Committee. ATÖLYE is also part of the kyu Collective, a collective of strategically curated creative businesses whose purpose is to be a source of creativity which propels economies and societies forward. ATÖLYE’s work encompasses all facets of creative consulting including strategy, design, architecture, and technology. It provides these services through a unique modern network of practitioners. https://atolye.io/en/home/

БИОС
БИОС је центар савремене уметности и умрежених медија у Атини. БИОС је флексибилно мултифункционално подручје које обухвата два простора за музику уживо, четири бара, простор за позориште/перформанс, простор за пробе, канцеларију за графички дизајн, биоскоп и просторе за уметничћке инсталације.
https://www.bios.gr/

НОВА ИСКРА
Нова Искра има пионирску улогу међу креативним хабовима на Балкану. Нова Искра је настала на идеји стварања конкретних веза између креативних индустрија, технологије и људи како би се подржало критичко размишљање, неговале идеје и подржале дизајнерске организације уз развијање пословања оријентисаног ка будућности. Док стреми ка будућности, Нова Искра не губи из вида потребе стварности, која је у стању непрестане промене. https://novaiskra.com/en/

УНИВЕРЗИТЕТ АБДУЛЛАХ ГУЛ
Прве кораке ка оснивању Универзитета Абдуллах Гул предузели су 2007.године Општинско веће града Кајсери и значајни појединци у граду. Циљ је био подићи образовни профил у Кајсерију у складу са властитом визијом развоја града. Универзитет, прихватајући ту част, добио је име по 11. Председнику Републике Турске Абдулаху Гулу. Овај универзитет настоји да се уврсти међу високо-квалитетне елитне универзите у Турској не заостајући у надметању са другим међународним институцијама. То је први државни универзитет у Турској подржан од стране фондације. Званично је основан 21. јула 2010. године. Универзитет Абдуллах Гул (AGÜ) примио је своје прве студенте у академској 2013 – 2014. години. Универзитет је лоциран на тлу где се налазио први турски индустријски комплекс и сада је на путу да се претвори у образовну институцију историјског значаја.
http://www.agu.edu.tr/

CFCU- ЦЕНТРАЛНА ЈЕДИНИЦА ЗА ФИНАНСИЈЕ И УГОВОРЕ.
Након прихватања Турске као земље кандидата на Самиту Савета Европе у Хелсинкију, 10. и 11. децембра 1999. године., промењен је Главни оквир за финансијску сарадњу Турске и ЕУ, Финансијска подршка ЕУ усмерена је на пред-приступне циљеве и коначно пуноправно чланство. Ова промена навела је Турску да оснује систем за финансирање уговора о активностима успостављања „Децентрализованог система примене“ (MOUS). Као извршна агенција, Централна јединица за финансије и уговоре одговорна је за укупни буџет, тендере, уговоре, плаћања, рачуноводство и питања финансијског извештавања за пружање свих услуга, материјала, послова и грантова у контексту програма финансираних од Европске Уније (ЕУ). Под одговорношћу лица надлежног за одобравање програма (СОП), Централна јединица за финансије и уговоре, осигурава да се поштују правила, прописи и процедуре ЕУ везане за тендере и да функционише одговарајући систем извештавања. Централна јединица за финансије и уговоре повезана је са Под-секретаријатом за трезор, који је административно одговоран за финансијско управљање програмима које финансира ЕУ.
https://www.cfcu.gov.tr/

ИНСТИТУЦИЈА ЈУНУС ЕМРЕ
Фондација Јунус Емре је јавна организација која је основана са циљем да доприноси повећању културне размене и промовише пријатељство између Турске и других земаља, да стави на располагање релевантне документа у свету, да промовише Турску, турски језик, историју, културу и уметност, да пружа услуге и обавештења људима у иностранству у вези са турским језиком, културом и уметносшћу који желе да студирају у иностранству, у Турској. Институт Јунус Емре као институција повезана са фондацијом, поред наставка рада на достизању циљева овог закона за подучавање турског језика у културним центрима основаним у иностранству, спроводи културне и уметничке активности на промоцији наше земље и подржава научна истраживања.
https://www.yee.org.tr/en

ИНТЕРКУЛТУРАЛНИ ДИЈАЛОГ
Програмом Интеркултурални дијалог измећу ЕУ и Турске, управља институција Јунус Емре, која промовише културни дијалог између ЕУ и Турске, окупљајући различите институције различитог културног профила у контексту пружања финансијске подршке уметности и култури.
https://icd.yee.org.tr/

У припреми изложбе учествовали су:

Еми Бакарак (Emmy Bacharach) је просторни практичар, аудио-визуелна уметница и ДЈ која ради на пресеку архитектуре, звука, филма и имерзивних технологија. Рад уметнице истражује друштвене, политичке и просторне могућности усвајања дигиталних технологија. Еми је завршила постдипломски програм на aрхитектури, на Универзитету Кембриџ (University of Cambridge), касније је завршила магистарски програм на Краљевском колеџу уметности, где почиње да се бави покретним сликама, звуцима, имерзивним (свепрожимајућим) технологијама. Њена инсталација “Proxy Architecture (Прокси Архитектура)”, приказана је у оквиру Волуметријске екологије у Дигиталним студијама Goldsmiths – Инсталацијски радови на изложби у окружењу, телима и световима за размишљање уронио је публику у виртуални свет, плутајући град дигиталних делова Истанбула, спекулирајући о колективном потенцијалу виртуалног простора. Истраживачки пројекат „Сонична урбанизација у Детроиту: Технологија у смислу просторног покрета“ говори о утицају урбаног простора на музичку суб-културу расправљајући о техно’-продукцији и звучној колективности за просторну агенцију у контексту постиндустријске урбане ситуације у Детроиту. Суоснивач је компаније ,,Xcessive Aesthetics,,То је интердисциплинарни дизајнерски колектив, који истражује проширену стварност у изграђеном окружењу
https://www.rca.ac.uk/students/emmy-bacharach/

Рут Катлоу (Ruth Catlow), је оснивач и уметничка директорка Мorefield-а. Она је успешни стручњак који се бави ослобађањем мрежних култура, пракси и поезије. Сајт је организовао више од 60 изложби дигиталних уметности око алтернативних економија и заједничких тема. Ауторка је бројних публикација о уметности, технологији и друштвеним променама, а била је главни говорник и уредник међународно признатих Blockchain – Уметници који размишљају. Освојила је награду Центар за креативну економију Европе ‘NICE’, blockchain и арт лабораторија серије DAOWO, 2019. године од стране Ben Vickers (Serpantin) и Goethe-Institut. Она је директорка DECAL-а – Децентрализоване уметничка лабораторија, која развија међуиндустријска партнерства за нове економске моделе уметности.

Др Лина Џуверовић, је кустос и предавач у области уметничке политике и менаџмента на Лондонском универзитету – Колеџ Биркбек. Њено истраживање фокусира се на начине на које би област савремене уметности могла да постане центар солидарности и да доприноси учвршћивању заједница. Лина је претходно предавала на Универзитету Рединг, на Институту за савремену уметност (ИЗК), у ТУ у Грацу, у Аустрији, била је метнички директор Фондације „ Калверт 22,“ као и и оснивач и директорка агенције “ Електра“ са седиштем у Лондону. Радила је на пословима кустоса у ICA (Institute for Contemporary Art) и у Центру Лукс, у Лондону, као и на бијеналу Моментум у Норвешкој. 2006.године,била је сарадник кустошког програма „Десибел“, под покровитељством Уметничког савета Енглеске (Arts Council, England).

Диана Георгију (Diana Georgiou), писац и кустос која живи у Лондону. У свом кустошком раду користи различите, феминистичке и антиколонијалне праксе и теорије како би створила подручја сусрета која могу унапредити дијалог, експериментирање и сарадњу унутар и изван институционалних параметара. Најновији заједнички пројекат Eco Futures (Лондон, 2019), фокусирао се на ефекте еколошких питања нација, раса и сексуалности и укључивао је 10 партнерских организација уз учешће више од 70 уметника, теоретичара и активиста. Међу одабраним пројектима били су; видео уметничка изложба Земље у транзицији, Изложба : Хормони на раскрсницама науке и уметности (Лондон, Lincoln, Барцелона, Болоња, 2017-18); Deep Trash (Дубоко смеће), Уметнички програм уживо (Лондон, 2017-18); The Showroom, ICA, Space Studios ve Raven Row (Лондон, 2015); двонедељни програм ,,Now You Can Go, (Сада можеш да идеш) који је општеприхваћен као феминистичка мисао, уметност и активизам. Диана је докторирала јвизуалну културу на Goldsmiths-у, Универзитет у Лондону. На иновативан начин описује однос између феминистичке психоаналитичке теорије, уметничког писања и субјективности.

Хума Кабакчи (Huma Kabakcı) (рођена 1990.године, у Лондону) Колекционар друге генерације која живи и ради између Лондона и Истанбула, Независни је кустос и оснивач – директор Отвореног простора (Open Space). Хума Кабакчи, дипломирала је на курсу рекламе и маркетинг на Колеџу за комуникације у Лондону и магистрирала је Савремене уметности на Краљевском колеџу уметности. Радила је у Енглеској и Турској у разним галеријама, музејима и акцијским кућама укључујући Одељење за продају дела савремене уметности „Sotheby“ (у Лондону), Галерија Албион (у Лондону) и Музеј Пера (у Истанбулу). Хума Кабакчи, посебно се занима турско-блискоисточном савременом уметношћу и савременом уметношћу која се приказује у Лондону. Њена кустошка истраживања и аналазе се често односе на дијаспору, попут миграција, културног идентитета, интер-културалног дијалога и сећања. Доприносила је изради публикација као што су Border_less, FAD Magazine, Guggenheim Blog, IAN (Istanbul Art News) и SYRUP Magazine. Хума Кабакчи, је завршила кустошки курс на Liverpool Bienalе у Ливерпулу 2018. године. Најновији пројекат зове се ,,Додир понуде“, (Лондон), организован је од стране Open Space, где је кустос Инес Нето дос Сантос (Inês Neto dos Santos).

Тамара Каметани (Tamara Kametani), је словачка уметница из Лондона. Рођена је у Словачкој, али ради у различитим окружењима, укључујући и рад на инсталацијама, видео, фотографију и скулптуру. Кључна питања у њеном раду су односи између власти, надзора, приватности и приступа информацијама. Посебно је занима улога коју технологија игра у изградњи савремених и историјских наратива и нова искуства која она пружа. 2017. године магистрирала је из Праксе савремене уметности на Краљевском факултету уметности. Тамара Каметани је учествовала у већем броју уметничких резиденција и излагала на међународном нивоу. Међу најновијим комисијама и изложбама налази се: Swayze ефекат (Swayze effect), AGORAMA, Лондон (Лондон) (2019) кустос Platform Southwark; 404- Отпор у дигиталном добу (404-Resistance in the Digital Age) , RAGE Collective, CFCCA, Manchester (2019); За сада (For the Time Being) Галерија Уметника Фотографије, Лондон (2019). Кустос је CCA Краљевске колеџ за уметност; Дигитална дијаспора, Студио 44, Стокхолм (2019);Summer Show, Florence Trust, Londra (2018) ve Triennial of Photography, Hamburg(2018).
https://www.tamarakametani.com/

Георгиос Маккас (Georgios Makkas)
Рођен је у Атини 1977. године. Од раног детињства веома су га интересовале професије везане за Документарну фотографству. Тај студиј је завршио у Њупорту, у Енглеској. Освојио је низ признања и прво место, награду ,,Observer Hodge Award”, zahvaqujući свом радu o становништву руралне Албаније. Маккас je у 2010. години, bio уметник-резидент у Познану, где је учетвовао на резиденцијалном програму „СЕТСЕ“ на Пољској Академији ликовних уметности. Његов рад је изложен у Националној галерији портрета у Лондону, на Атинском фотографском фестивалу, Med-photo Festivalnу Ретимну, Foto Noviembre, Валенциа, Фотографиа Еуропеа у Регио Емилиа, (Le Vocidell’Inchiesta) у Порденонеу, ДУМБО АртФестивал у Њујорку и на Истанбулском бијеналу дизајна и такође је организован у сталној колекцији Музеја фотографије у Солуну. Макас, се бавио чувањем сећања кроз објектив. Ова његова апликација фотографисањa портрета, слушање причa и снимање прича људи, документовање несталог лица градова. За више информација: https://www.gmakkas.com/about/index

Јоана Ман (Ioana Man), је мултидисциплинарни дизајнер са архитектуром, сценографијом и критичком праксом. Њен приступ омогућава нове сусрете између областима архитектуре, науке и ритуала како би се обликовало, пронашло и редизајнирало алтернативно опредељење будућности. Тренутно је тежиште на дугорочном пројекту чији је циљ приближити архитекте микроскопској скали и научницима који је користе. Њен рад је откупљен од стране Отворене платформе у колекцији Wellcome, изложеној у Лондонском архитектонском удружењу. www.ioanaman.com
www.probiotic-rituals.com

Тео Продромидис (Theo Prodromidis), је визуелни уметник и филмски режисер који живи у Атини. Његови радови су излагани у галеријама, музејима и фестивалима као што су Галерија Нова, тање концепта, прво и пето Солунско Бијенале, Четврто Атинско Бијенале, WerkleitzZentrum Für Medienkunst и Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt. Од 2017. Године добровољно је радио на Одељењу за историју и филозофију Националног и Каподистријског Универзитету у Атини као извођач у оквиру програма Промена ризика и волантирао је у Отвореној школи „Имигранти Пиреја“. Члан је Института за радикалну имагинацију и члан Савета мреже школа солидарности. Тренутно је члан 2019-2020 -Artworks, Програм за стипендије уметничке Фондације Stavros Niarchos.
www.theoprodromidis.info

Јагмур Ујаник (Yağmur Uyanık) је турска уметница која живи у Сан Франциску и бави се областима архитектуре, нових медија и музике. Својим радовима, ова уметница истражује понављања, процесе и нематеријалне ствари стварајући медије за премештање помоћу светлости, звука и простим ширењем дигиталних медија у физичко искуство. Јагмур Ујаник је магистрирала уметност и технологију на Институту за уметност у Сан Франциску као прималац Фулбрајтове стипендије. Рад уметнице је приказан у институцијама као што су Ars Electronica, Sonar D+, Signal Light Festival, MUTEK, Exploratorium, Академија наука, у Калифорнији и у Галерији „ Diego Rivera“.
https://yagmuruyanik.com

Ова публикација произведена је уз финансијску подршку Европске уније. За њену садржину одговоран је искључиво Европски савет, па изнети ставови не морају да се поклапају са ставовима Европске уније.

Furtherfield Gallery at the McKenzie Pavilion is located in the middle of Finsbury Park in North London, across the children’s playground from the cafe, next to the boating pond. Accessible between the gates near Finsbury Park Station and Manor House Station.

Μία έκθεση έργων που προέκυψε μέσα από την συνεργασία και ανταλλαγή γνώσεων μεταξύ καλλιτεχνών από την Τουρκία, την Ελλάδα, την Σερβία και την Αγγλία σε αναζήτηση διατοπικής αλληλεγγύης σε έναν υπερσυνδεδεμένο κόσμο.

EXHIBITION NOW ONLINE

Exhibition Catalogue

SEE IMAGES FROM THE PRIVATE VIEW

TransLocal Cooperation exhibition, Connect for Creativity from Furtherfield on Vimeo.

Τι είναι οι Διατοπικές Συνεργασίες;

Το γεγονός ότι ο κόσμος μας είναι πλέον υπερσυνδεδεμένος μας έχει δώσει τη δυνατότητα να ταξιδεύουμε ή και να βρισκόμαστε ταυτόχρονα, σε διαφορετικούς φυσικούς και ψηφιακούς τόπους. Αποτέλεσμα αυτής της δυνατότητας είναι το ότι οι ταυτότητές μας καθορίζονται αυξανόμενα από παραπάνω από έναν τόπο και πολιτισμικό πλαίσιο. Αυτή η κοινωνική και πολιτισμική πλευρά της παγκοσμιοποίησης περιγράφεται συχνά με όρους «διατοπικότητας», όπου τα γεγονότα, οι συνθήκες και οι σχέσεις που συναντώνται σε μία περιοχή μπορούν να επηρεάσουν και να συνδεθούν ταχύτατα με τις ιδιαίτερες συνθήκες που επικρατούν σε μία άλλη.

Η έκθεση «Διατοπικές Συνεργασίες» και τα έργα αυτής, εξερευνούν τους τρόπους με τους οποίους μπορούμε να οργανώσουμε από κοινού τις αποστάσεις και τις διαφορές μέσα αλλά και προς όφελος των διατοπικών μας κοινωνιών. Η έκθεση παρουσιάζει μία επιλογή έργων που δημιουργήθηκαν από καλλιτέχνιδες και καλλιτέχνες με καταγωγή από την Τουρκία, την Ελλάδα, την Σερβία και το Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο κατά τη διάρκεια της συμμετοχής τους σε residencies στο ATÖLYE στην Τουρκία, Bios στην Ελλάδα και Nova Iskra στην Σερβία. Τα έργα θέτουν το ερώτημα πώς πιθανά θα μπορούσαμε να γιορτάσουμε αυτές τις πολλαπλές ταυτότητες και τις δημιουργικές εκφράσεις τους καθώς μοιραζόμαστε αυτές τις νέες συνδέσεις και είμαστε ανοιχτοί για μεγαλύτερη συνεργασία και ενσυναίσθηση.

Τα έργα επιλέχθηκαν από την επιμελητική ομάδα μας που απαρτίζεται από επιμελήτριες με καταγωγή από την Τουρκία, την Κύπρο, την Σερβία και την Αγγλία, και περιλαμβάνουν μέσα και τεχνολογίες που ποικίλλουν από εικονική πραγματικότητα και 3D printing έως προβιοτική ζύμωση και εθνογραφική τεκμηρίωση. Οι καλλιτέχνες εξερευνούν τις προκλήσεις των ανθρώπων, των πολιτισμών και των ιδεών που έχουν εκτοπιστεί χωρικά και χρονικά, καθώς και τις δυνατότητες επανεκτίμησης και επαναδιαπραγμάτευσής τους με στόχο την διατοπική αλληλεγγύη και την ανταλλαγή γνώσης μέσα σε έναν συνεχώς μεταβαλλόμενο κόσμο.

Ανάμεσα στο εδώ και τώρα, το εκεί και τότε, μεταξύ της ορμητικής και εξελισσόμενης μετατόπισης των ανθρώπων στο Hasan Keyif της Τουρκίας και τον εκτοπισμό των πολιτών που υφίστανται εξώσεις στο Βελιγράδι της Σερβίας, οι καλλιτέχνες εξετάζουν τις επιδράσεις της παγκοσμιοποίησης σε συγκεκριμένες γεωγραφικές περιοχές και αναδεικνύουν το πώς τα «τοπικά» ζητήματα μπορούν να πληροφορήσουν και να δώσουν απαντήσεις με έναν τρόπο που υπερβαίνει τα σύνορα και τα πολιτισμικά πλαίσια.

Connect for Creativity / Ένωση για Δημιουργικότητα

To 18μηνο έργο Connect for Creativity πραγματοποιείται υπό την εποπτεία του Βρετανικού Συμβουλίου σε συνεργασία με το ATÖLYE και το Abdullah Gül University στην Τουρκία, το Bios στην Ελλάδα και το Nova Iskra στην Σερβία. Το έργο είναι μέρος του προγράμματος Intercultural Dialogue που πραγματοποιείται από το Yunus Emre Institute και συγχρηματοδοτείται από την Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση και την Δημοκρατία της Τουρκίας. Το έργο στοχεύει στη δημιουργία ενός δικτύου δημιουργικών κόμβων ανά την Ευρώπη το οποίο θα προάγει τις δημιουργικές αναζητήσεις και συνεργασίες και θα συμβάλλει σε μία πιο συνεκτική, ανοιχτή και συνδεδεμένη κοινωνία των πολιτών.

Το Πρόγραμμα Art and Technology Residency εστιάζει στην διαπολιτισμική συνεργατική εμπειρία και φέρνει κοντά καλλιτέχνες από την Ελλάδα, την Σερβία, την Τουρκία και την Αγγλία. Το πρόγραμμα διεξήχθη παράλληλα στην Αθήνα, το Βελιγράδι και την Κωνσταντινούπολη και φιλοξένησε τέσσερις καλλιτέχνες σε κάθε πόλη, συνολικά δώδεκα συμμετέχοντες στο πρόγραμμα. Μέσω του προγράμματος που διήρκησε έξι εβδομάδες οι συμμετέχοντας διερεύνησαν το πώς οι δικτυωμένες κοινωνίες μπορούν να αναπτύξουν μεγαλύτερη συνοχή έτσι ώστε να αντιμετωπίσουν την αβεβαιότητα και τις μεταβολές που χαρακτηρίζουν τον σύγχρονο τρόπο ζωής.

Περιοχή Έκθεσης

Τα έργα εκτίθενται στην γκαλερί Furtherfield, στην καρδιά του πάρκου Finsbury. Ένας αστικός πράσινος χώρος που χρησιμοποιείται από περίπου 55.000 άτομα κάθε εβδομάδα, το πάρκο Finsbury βρίσκεται στα σύνορα τριών δήμων του Λονδίνου, σε μία πολυπολιτισμική γειτονιά, με περίπου 200 διαφορετικές γλώσσες να ομιλούνται τοπικά από μεγάλες κοινότητες μεταναστών. Συγκεκριμένα, η περιοχή στεγάζει τις μεγαλύτερες τουρκικές και ελληνικές κοινότητες της Αγγλίας και συνορεύει με την μεγαλύτερη σερβική κοινότητα στο Δυτικό Λονδίνο.

Έργα

Θεόδωρος Καρυώτης, Τόνια Κατερίνη, Στάθης Μητρόπουλος, Nemanja Pantovic και Ana Vilenica

Το έργο διερευνά τις διαδικασίες που οδήγησαν σε ένα μεγάλο κύμα εξώσεων στην Σερβία και το συνδέει με την ελληνική πραγματικότητα όπου το νομικό πλαίσιο για την προστασία της πρώτης κατοικίας είναι προγραμματισμένο να «λήξει» τον Απρίλιο του 2020. Πρόκειται για μία έκδοση που έχει παραχθεί συλλογικά και λειτουργεί ως ένα όχημα πληροφόρησης για τους αγώνες στο πλαίσιο μίας διαρκώς αυξανόμενης παγκόσμιας στεγαστικής κρίσης.

Κατεβάστε και μοιραστείτε τα δικά σας αντίτυπα τώρα

Προβιοτικές Τελετουργίες, Ioanna Man

Οι πόλεις είναι πολύπλοκα οικοσυστήματα και η ανθρώπινη ύπαρξη εντός αυτών εξαρτάται από διαστρωματωμένες σχέσεις φροντίδας. Οι Προβιοτικές Τελετουργίες επιδιώκουν να καθιερώσουν νέες συνήθειες για μία ζωή στην πόλη που δεν συμπεριλαμβάνει μόνο τον ανθρώπινο παράγοντα. Μεγεθυμένα μικρόβια, επαυξημένη πραγματικότητα, ένας διαδικτυακός τόπος και μία σειρά τελετουργιών καθιστούν τον ανθρώπινο παρατηρητή ισότιμο με τον βόμβο της βιόσφαιρας και αναδεικνύουν την εξάρτηση της κοινωνίας από την μικροσκοπική ζωή. Τελετουργίες και εικονογραφίες ποικίλων οργανισμών αναπτύσσουν μία διαδικασία για την βελτίωση της συνύπαρξης με τα μικρότερα στοιχεία της πόλης.

Το ποιείν του εαυτού: επίπεδα του συν-γίγνεσθαι, Yağmur Uyanık

Ένα 3D printed γλυπτό από ψαμμίτη που απεικονίζει έναν υβριδικό χαρακτήρα ο οποίος δημιουργήθηκε από την ένωση των ψηφιακών μοντέλων δύο «αυθεντικών» γλυπτών του Βρετανικού Μουσείου: του Αλεξάνδρου ΙΙΙ του Μακεδόνα (Μέγας Αλέξανδρος), και του Περικλή της αρχαίας Ελλάδας. To έργο συνδυάζει τον ήχο και την γλυπτική, τονίζοντας πως η δημιουργία, η διάδοση και η προστασία της πολιτισμικής πληροφορίας βρίσκονται στα θεμέλια των γεωγραφικών συνθηκών, των μοτίβων εκτοπισμού μετατοπίσεων και της ανιθαγένειας (statelessness). Διερευνά το πώς η ατομική αφήγηση και η συλλογική μνήμη διαμορφώνονται μέσα από την πολιτισμική περιουσία, την πολιτισμική κληρονομιά και τις συμβολικές τους ερμηνείες.

Ροή Συνείδησης / Οι Σπηλιές του Hasankeyf, της Emmy Bacharach

Έχοντας τη μορφή μιας εμπειρίας εικονικής πραγματικότητας, το έργο αυτό εφιστά την προσοχή στην τοπική και διατοπική σημασία του Hasankey, μίας αρχαίας πόλης στην νοτιοανατολική Τουρκία, η ύπαρξη της οποίας απειλείται από το πρότζεκτ Ilisu Dam – που θα προκαλέσει την άνοδο της στάθμης του ποταμού Τίγρη και το επακόλουθο πλημμύρισμα της πόλης. Το έργο αναπαριστά το Hasankey χρησιμοποιώντας φωτογραμμετρία και οπτικό υλικό που έχει συλλεχθεί από την περιοχή, δίνοντας μία γεύση από το μοναδικό περιβάλλον των σπηλαίων, πολλά από τα οποία σύντομα θα πλημμυρίσουν. Ο θεατής βιώνει την εμπειρία από τη θέση του νερού και έτσι, όσο τα σπήλαια σταδιακά βυθίζονται, μία συνθήκη που ομοιάζει με το τραύμα του εκτοπισμένου τοπικού πληθυσμού.

Επάνω στην Πέτρα, της Tamara Kametani

Ως μέρος του GDPR (Γενικός Κανονισμός Προστασίας Δεδομένων της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης) το «δικαίωμα στη λήθη» σημαίνει ότι ένα άτομο μπορεί, υπό ορισμένες προϋποθέσεις, να αιτηθεί να αφαιρεθούν αρνητικές πληροφορίες που το αφορούν από λίστες αναζήτησης. Το Set in Stone αποτελεί έναν ποιητικό διαλογισμό σχετικά με την επίδραση των υλικών σε φαινομενικά άυλες πτυχές των διατοπικών πολιτισμών. Εν μέσω οργισμένων συζητήσεων σχετικά με τις νόμιμες χρήσεις και παραβιάσεις τόσο της ιδιωτικότητας όσο και ελευθερίας έκφρασης στο διαδίκτυο, το λεργο παρουσιάζει φράσεις για τη ζωή των δεδομένων, χαραγμένες με το χέρι σε αθηναΐκά μάρμαρα, με σκοπό την πρόκληση μιας ιστορικής αντανάκλασης, ή έστω μιας υπενθύμισης των συνεπειών των πράξεων εντός και εκτός των δικτύων.

Τέσσερις στάσεις για τα Ταταύλα (Kurtuluş), του Γεώργιος Μάκκας

Το πολλαπλών καναλιών αυτό βίντεο εξερευνά τη γειτονιά των Ταταύλων (Kurtuluş), που είναι γνωστή ιστορικά ως «Μικρή Αθήνα» (“Küçük Atina” στα Τουρκικά), λόγω ενός ελληνικού πληθυσμού μεγαλύτερου των 20,000 ανθρώπων. Η κοσμοπολίτικη αυτή γειτονιά σήμερα αποτελεί στέγη για τουρκικές, ελληνικές, αρμένικες, κουρδικές και εβραϊκές κοινότητες, ενώ η ιστορική ελληνική επιρροή εξακολουθεί να υπάρχει. Το έργο του Μάκκα απαρτίζεται από συνεντεύξεις των Ελλήνων ανθρώπων που ζουν ακόμη εκεί (Rum), ενώ επιδιώκει να διατηρήσει τη μνήμη του «παλιού Kurtuluş» με το να καταγράψει κάτι το οποίο πρόκειται να εξαφανιστεί για πάντα.

Επιμελήτριες

Ruth Catlow, Lina Džuverović, Diana Georgiou, Huma Kabakcı

Συνεργάτες της Έκθεσης

Το Furtherfield είναι το μεγαλύτερο (απο)κέντρο τέχνης και τεχνολογίας του Λονδίνου. Με εμπειρία μεγαλύτερη των 20 ετών, με 50+ εκθέσεις και παραπάνω από 100 διεθνείς συνεργασίες, το Furtherfield ειδικεύεται σε εναλλακτικά συστήματα οργάνωσης και συν-δημιουργίας. Το έργο του έχει προβληθεί στο BBC, το Guardian, το New Scientist, το Wired, το the Art Newspaper και το Hyperallergic. Συνυπάρχοντας στον χάρτη της γραμμής μετρό Piccadilly με κεντρικούς προορισμούς όπως το Παλάτι του Buckingham, η γκαλερί Furtherfield βρίσκεται στον δήμο Haringey – την τοπική αρχή της Αγγλίας με τα υψηλότερα ποσοστά εισοδηματικής ανισότητας. Το Furtherfield επιδιώκει να παράγει έργο που δίνει στους ανθρώπους την αίσθηση ότι είναι κάτοχοι των ζωών και των τοποθεσιών τους. https://www.furtherfield.org/

Το Βρετανικό Συμβούλιο είναι ο διεθνής οργανισμός της Αγγλίας που προωθεί τις διαπολιτισμικές σχέσεις και τις ευκαιρίες εκπαίδευσης με δραστηριότητα σε πάνω από 100 χώρες στα πεδία της τέχνης και του πολιτισμού, της Αγγλικής γλώσσας, εκπαίδευσης και της αστικής κοινωνίας. Η άμεση απήχηση του έργου του Βρετανικού Συμβουλίου τον τελευταίο χρόνο έφτασε τα 65 εκατομμύρια ανθρώπους και τα 731 εκατομμύρια ανθρώπους συνολικά, συμπεριλαμβανομένων διαδικτυακών μεταδόσεων και δημοσιεύσεων. Το Βρετανικό Συμβούλιο συνεισφέρει θετικά στις χώρες με τις οποίες συνεργάζεται, αλλάζοντας τη ζωή των ανθρώπων μέσω της προσφοράς ευκαιριών και του χτισίματος διασυνδέσεων και εμπιστοσύνης. Με έτος ίδρυσης το 1934, το British Council αποτελεί μία Αγγλική κοινωνική προσφορά με Βασιλικό Καταστατικό κι ένα δημόσιο σώμα της Αγγλίας. Λαμβάνει 15 τοις εκατό χρηματοδότηση από την Αγγλική κυβέρνηση. https://www.britishcouncil.org.tr

Το ATÖLYE αποτελεί έναν δημιουργικό οργανισμό του 21ου αιώνα, με ένα Στούντιο Στρατηγικής Δημιουργίας που στεγάζεται σε έναν δημιουργικό κόμβο. Είναι μέλος του Διοικητικού Συμβουλίου των Δημιουργικών Κόμβων Ευρώπης. Το ATÖLYE είναι επίσης μέλος του kyu Collective, ενός συνεταιρισμού δημιουργικών επιχειρήσεων, στόχος του οποίου είναι να αποτελεί πηγή δημιουργίας που προωθεί οικονομίες και κοινωνίες. Η δραστηριότητα του ATÖLYE περικλείει όλα τα πεδία δημιουργικής συμβουλευτικής, όπως στρατηγικές, σχεδιασμός, αρχιτεκτονική και τεχνολογία. Παρέχει τις υπηρεσίες αυτές μέσα από ένα μοναδικό, μοντέρνο δίκτυο συμμετεχόντων. https://atolye.io/en/home/

Το BIOS είναι ένας πολιτιστικός οργανισμός που από το 2002 προωθεί τις τέχνες, τους νέους δημιουργούς και τη νέα επιχειρηματικότητα στην Αθήνα. Στηρίζει τις πρωτοπόρες δημιουργικές δυνάμεις, δημιουργεί πεδία διασύνδεσης των τεχνών, της επιστήμης, της κοινωνικής και επιχειρηματικής ζωής και συμβάλλει /επιδρά στην διαμόρφωση της πολιτιστικής ταυτότητας της πόλης. https://www.bios.gr/

Το Nova Iskra είναι ένας πρωτοπόρος δημιουργικός κόμβος στα Βαλκάνια. Δημιουργήθηκε με την ιδέα να προωθήσει δεσμούς μεταξύ δημιουργικών βιομηχανιών, τεχνολογιών και ανθρώπων, με στόχο να υποστηρίξει την κριτική σκέψη, να ενισχύσει ιδέες, να σχεδιάσει οργανώσεις και να αναπτύξει επιχειρήσεις που καθιστούν ασφαλές το μέλλον, ενώ παράλληλα να παραμείνει ευαίσθητο στο συνεχώς μεταβαλλόμενο παρόν. https://novaiskra.com/en/

Τα πρώτα βήματα για την ίδρυση του Πανεπιστημίου Abdullah Gül έγιναν το 2007 από το Δημοτικό Συμβούλιο και άλλα εξέχοντα πρόσωπα της Πόλης της Καισαρείας. Στόχος ήταν η βελτίωση του εκπαιδευτικού προφίλ της Καισαρείας ώστε να συμβαδίσει με το αναπτυξιακό όραμα της πόλης. Το Πανεπιστήμιο πήρε το όνομά του από τον 11ο πρόεδρο της Τουρκικής Δημοκρατίας, Abdullah Gül, ο οποίος δέχθηκε αυτήν την τιμή. Το πανεπιστήμιο δημιουργήθηκε με στόχο να γίνει ένα υψηλά διακεκριμένο πανεπιστήμιο στην Τουρκία και να συναγωνίζεται τα διεθνή ιδρύματα. Το πανεπιστήμιο ιδρύθηκε επίσημα στις 21 Ιουλίου 2010 ως το πρώτο ίδρυμα της Τουρκίας που υποστήριζε το Κρατικό Πανεπιστήμιο. Δέχθηκε τους πρώτους του φοιτητές την ακαδημαϊκή χρονιά 2013-2014. Η εκπαίδευση λαμβάνει χώρα σε μία περιοχή της Τουρκίας όπου βρισκόταν το πρώτο βιομηχανικό σύμπλεγμα, το οποίο μεταμορφώθηκε από ένα μέρος με μεγάλη ιστορική σημασία σε έναν σημαντικό εκπαιδευτικό χώρο. http://www.agu.edu.tr/

Μετά την απόφαση της Συνόδου Κορυφής στο Ελσίνκι του Ευρωπαϊκού Συμβουλίου στις 10-11 Δεκεμβρίου 1999, με την οποία η Τουρκία έγινε δεκτή ως υποψήφια χώρα, το κύριο πλαίσιο της οικονομικής συνεργασίας Τουρκίας – Ευρώπης άλλαξε και η οικονομική υποστήριξη της Ευρώπης στράφηκε στους στόχους της πορείας ένταξης και τελικά της πλήρους συμμετοχής. Η αλλαγή αυτή οδήγησε την Τουρκία να καθιερώσει ένα “Αποκεντρωμένο Σύστημα Εφαρμογής” (DIS) στα πλαίσια του οποίου λειτουργεί και το CFCU. Το CFCU, ως Εφαρμοστικό Όργανο, είναι υπεύθυνο για τον συνολικό προϋπολογισμό, τις προσφορές, τα συμβόλαια, τις πληρωμές, τους λογαριασμούς και τις οικονομικές πτυχές όλων των υπηρεσιών, των εφοδίων, των έργων και των επιχορηγήσεων στα πλαίσια των χρηματοδοτούμενων από την Ευρώπη προγραμμάτων. Έχοντας την ευθύνη της “Διεύθυνσης για την Εξουσιοδότηση Προγραμμάτων” (PAO), το CFCU διασφαλίζει ότι οι ευρωπαϊκοί κανόνες, νόμοι και διαδικασίες ακολουθούνται και ότι λειτουργεί ένα ορθό σύστημα αναφορών. Το CFCU συνδέεται διοικητικά με το Υφυπουργείο Οικονομικών, που είναι υπεύθυνο για την οικονομική διαχείριση των χρηματοδοτούμενων προγραμμάτων από την Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση. https://www.cfcu.gov.tr/

Ο οργανισμός Yunus Emre είναι ένας δημόσιος οργανισμός που ιδρύθηκε για να προωθήσει την Τουρκία, την τουρκική γλώσσα, την ιστορία, τον πολιτισμό και την τέχνη της χώρας, για να καταστήσει σχετικές πληροφορίες και αρχεία διαθέσιμα προς χρήση στο κοινό, να παρέχει υπηρεσίες διεθνώς σε ανθρώπους που επιθυμούν να λάβουν εκπαίδευση στους τομείς της τουρκικής γλώσσας, πολιτισμού και τέχνης, να βελτιώσει τη φιλία μεταξύ Τουρκίας και άλλων χωρών και να αυξήσει την πολιτισμική αλληλεπίδραση. Ως ένα ίδρυμα που σχετίζεται με τον Οργανισμό Yunus Emre, πραγματοποιεί μελέτες για τη διδασκαλία της Τουρκικής σε πολιτιστικά κέντρα ανά τον κόσμο, με στόχο την προώθηση της χώρας σε πολιτισμικό και καλλιτεχνικό επίπεδο, ενώ επιπλέον παρέχει στήριξη και σε επιστημονικές έρευνες. https://www.yee.org.tr/en

Το Πρόγραμμα Διαπολιτισμικού Διαλόγου Ευρώπης- Τουρκίας διοικείται από το ίδρυμα Yunus Emre και συγχρηματοδοτείται από την Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση και την Τουρκική Δημοκρατία και στόχο έχει να βελτιώσει τον πολιτισμικό διάλογο μεταξύ Ευρώπης και Τουρκίας φέρνοντας κοντά διαφορετικά ιδρύματα με ποικίλα πολιτισμικά προφίλ, μέσω της χρηματικής ενίσχυσης για τις τέχνες και τον πολιτισμό. https://icd.yee.org.tr

Βιογραφικά των Συνεργατών

Η Emmy Bacharach είναι επαγγελματίας ειδικευμένη σε θέματα χωροταξίας, οπτικοακουστική καλλιτέχνης και DJ και εργάζεται στο σταυροδρόμι της αρχιτεκτονικής, του ήχου, του κινηματογράφου και των τεχνολογιών εμβύθισης. Το έργο της ερευνά τις κοινωνικές, πολιτικές και χωροταξικές δυνατότητες εκμετάλλευσης των ψηφιακών τεχνολογιών. Η Emmy σπούδασε αρχιτεκτονική στο Πανεπιστήμιο του Cambridge και αργότερα ολοκλήρωσε το μεταπτυχιακό της στο Royal College of Art, όπου ξεκίνησε να μελετά την κινούμενη εικόνα, τον ήχο και τις τεχνολογίες εμβύθισης. Το έργο της “Proxy Architecture”, το οποίο παρουσιάστηκε στην έκθεση “Ecologies: Environments, Bodies and Mediated Worlds” στα Ψηφιακά Στούντιο του Goldsmiths, εισάγει τους θεατές σε έναν εικονικό κόσμο, σε μία αιωρούμενη πόλη που αποτελείται από ψηφιακά κομμάτια της Κωνσταντινούπολης και αποτυπώνει σκέψεις για την συλλογική δυνατότητα του εικονικού χώρου. Το ερευνητικό της έργο “Sonic Urbanism in Detroit: Techno as a Spatial Act” ερευνά την επίδραση του αστικού χώρου στην μουσική υποκουλτούρα, συζητώντας για την χωρική παρέμβαση της τεχνολογικής παραγωγής και της ηχητικής συλλογικότητας στα πλαίσια της μετα-βιομηχανικής αστικής κατάστασης του Ντιτρόιτ. Είναι συν-ιδρύτρια του Xcessive Aesthetics, μιας διεπιστημονικής συλλογικότητας που μελετά δεδομένα και ζητήματα εικονικής πραγματικότητας σε κατασκευασμένα περιβάλλοντα.
https://rca.ac.uk/students/emmy-bacharach

Η Ruth Catlow είναι συν-ιδρύτρια και Καλλιτεχνική Διευθύντρια του Furtherfield και ηγετική προσωπικότητα σε πολλά δίκτυα χειραφετητικής κουλτούρας, πρακτικών και λόγου. Έχει συνεπιμεληθεί παραπάνω από 60 εκθέσεις ψηφιακών έργων σχετικά με θέματα επαναδιαπραγμάτευσης του δημόσιου χώρου, εναλλακτικής οικονομίας και πολιτικών κοινότητας. Βασική ομιλήτρια και συγγραφέας αμέτρητων δημοσιεύσεων σχετικών με την τέχνη, την τεχνολογία και την κοινωνική αλλαγή, έχει υπάρξει και επιμελήτρια του διεθνώς αναγνωρισμένου έργου “Artist Re:Thinking the Blockchain”. Το 2019, η σειρά έργων της “DAOWO” που δημιουργήθηκαν με τον Ben Vickers (Γκαλερί Serpentine) κέρδισαν σε Ευρωπαϊκό Επίπεδο το βραβείο NICE για τη Δημιουργική Οικονομία. Διευθύνει τα Καλλιτεχνικά Εργαστήρια “DECAL” στο Furtherfield και αναπτύσσει συνεργασίες για νέα οικονομικά στο χώρο των τεχνών.

Η Dr. Lina Džuverović είναι επιμελήτρια και Λέκτορας της Καλλιτεχνικής Πολιτικής και Διοίκησης στο Κολλέγιο Birkbeck του Πανεπιστημίου του Λονδίνου. Η έρευνά της εστιάζει σε τρόπους με τους οποίους η σφαίρα της σύγχρονης τέχνης μπορεί να αποτελέσει τόπο αλληλεγγύης και ενίσχυσης της κοινότητας. Η Lina δίδασκε παλαιότερα στο Πανεπιστήμιο του Reading στο IZK- Ίδρυμα της Σύγχρονης Τέχνης, TU Graz της Αυστρίας, ήταν Καλλιτεχνική Διευθύντρια στην Οργάνωση Calvert 22, ιδρυτική διευθύντρια στο γραφείο Electra με έδρα το Λονδίνο, ενώ έχει συμβάλλει σε έργα επιμέλειας στο ICA και στο Lux Centre στο Λονδίνο και το Momentum Biennial στη Νορβηγία. Το 2006 έλαβε τον τίτλο “Decibel Mid-Career Curatorial Fellow” στο Συμβούλιο Τεχνών Αγγλίας.

Η Νταϊανα Γεωργίου είναι συγγραφέας και επιμελήτρια με έδρα το Λονδίνο. Στην επιμελητική της πρακτική επιστρατεύει κουήρ, φεμινιστικές και απο-αποικιακές θεωρίες με στόχο τη δημιουργία τόπων συνάντησης που προάγουν τον διάλογο, τον πειραματισμό και την συνεργασία εντός και εκτός θεσμικών παραμέτρων. Το “EcoFutures”, το πιο πρόσφατο πρότζεκτ που συνεπιμελήθηκε (Λονδίνο, 2019), εστίασε στις επιδράσεις των οικολογικών ζητημάτων στο φύλο, τη φυλή και τη σεξουαλικότητα και συμπεριλάμβανε τη συμμετοχή δέκα οργανώσεων και μιας ομάδας πάνω από 70 καλλιτεχνών, θεωρητικών και ακτιβιστών. Άλλα πρότζεκτ της συμπεριλαμβάνουν την έκθεση βίντεο “Transitional States: Hormones at the Intersections of Art & Science” (Λονδίνο, Λίνκολν, Βαρκελώνη, Μπολόνια, 2017-18), το πρόγραμμα “Deep Trash Live Art” (Λονδίνο, 2017-18), το πρόγραμμα “Now You Can Go” με θέμα την φεμινιστική σκέψη, την τέχνη και τον ακτιβισμό το οποίο έλαβε χώρα διαδοχικά στα Showroom, ICA, Space Studios and το Raven Row (Λονδίνο, 2015). Η Γεωργίου έχει διδακτορικό στον Οπτικό Πολιτισμό από το Πανεπιστήμιο Goldsmiths του Λονδίνου, στο οποίο ανέπτυξε μία καινοτόμα προσέγγιση της σχέσης ανάμεσα στη γραφή για την τέχνη και την υποκειμενικότητα, υπό το πρίσμα φεμινιστικών και ψυχαναλυτικών θεωριών.

Η Huma Kabakcı (γ. το 1990, Λονδίνο) είναι μία συλλέκτρια δεύτερης γενιάς, ανεξάρτητη επιμελήτρια και ιδρυτική διευθύντρια του Open Space, που ζει και εργάζεται μεταξύ Λονδίνου και Κωνσταντινούπολης. Η Kabakcı έχει πτυχίο Διαφήμισης & Μάρκετινγκ από το College of Communication του Λονδίνου και μεταπτυχιακό στην Επιμέλεια Σύγχρονης Τέχνης από το Royal College of Art. Έχει δουλέψει σε διάφορες γκαλερί, μουσεία και τόπους δημοπρασιών τόσο στην Αγγλία όσο και στην Τουρκία, συμπεριλαμβανομένων του τμήματος Πωλήσεων Σύγχρονης Τέχνης του Sotheby’s (Λονδίνο), της Γκαλερί Albion (Λονδίνο) και του Μουσείου Πέρα (Κωνσταντινούπολη). Η Kabakcı έχει ιδιαίτερο ενδιαφέρον στην Τουρκική, Μεσανατολική σύγχρονη τέχνη και την αναδυόμενη σύγχρονη τέχνη στο Λονδίνο. Η έρευνά της αναφέρεται σε θέματα όπως η διασπορά, η μετανάστευση, η πολιτισμική ταυτότητα, ο διαπολιτισμικός διάλογος και η μνήμη. Έχει συνεισφέρει σε δημοσιεύσεις όπως στο Border_less, το περιοδικό FAD, το Guggenheim Blog, το IAN (Istanbul Art News) και το Περιοδικό SYRUP. Το 2018 η Kabakcı ολοκλήρωσε μία επιμελητική υποτροφία στo Biennial του Λίβερπουλ. Νεότερα πρότζεκτ της περιλαμβάνουν το “Tender Touches” (Λονδίνο), με τη συν-επιμέλεια της Inês Neto dos Santos, οργανωμένο από το Open Space.

Η Tamara Kametani γεννήθηκε στη Σλοβακία και κατοικεί στο Λονδίνο Σλοβάκα όπου και ασχολείται με οπτικά καλλιτεχνικά έργα σε ποικιλία από μίντια όπως εγκαταστάσεις, βίντεο, φωτογραφία και γλυπτική, με έμφαση στην διαδικτυακή εξειδίκευση. Από τα κυριότερα ζητήματα που την απασχολούν είναι οι σχέσεις εξουσίας, η παρακολούθηση, η ιδιωτικότητα και η πρόσβαση στις πληροφορίες. Ενδιαφέρεται εν μέρει για τον ρόλο που διαδραματίζει η τεχνολογία για την κατασκευή σύγχρονων και ιστορικών αφηγήσεων και οι νέες εμπειρίες που προσφέρουν. Έλαβε μεταπτυχιακό δίπλωμα στηνΣύγχρονη Καλλιτεχνική Πρακτική από το Royal College of Art το2017. Η Kametani έχει συμμετάσχει σε έναν αριθμό καλλιτεχνικών στεγάσεων και σε διεθνείς εκθέσεις. Πρόσφατες δραστηριότητες και εκθέσεις της περιλαμβάνουν το Swayze effect, Platform Southwark, χορηγούμενο από το AGORAMA. Λονδίνο (2019), 404-Resistance in the Digital Age, RAGE Collective, CFCCA, Manchester (2019); For the Time Being, The Photographers’ Gallery, χορηγούμενο από το CCA Royal College of Art, London (2019); Digital Diaspora, Studio 44, Stockholm (2019); Summer Show, Florence Trust, London (2018) και Triennial of Photography, Hamburg (2018). https://www.tamarakametani.com/

Ο Γεώργιος Μάκκας, γεννημένος στην Αθήνα το 1977, έχει ιδιαίτερο ενδιαφέρον για την φωτογραφία από νεαρή ηλικία. Είναι απόφοιτος Φωτογραφίας Ντοκιμαντέρ στο Newport της Αγγλίας. Το έργο του σχετίζεται με τη πληθυσμιακή μείωση της αγροτικής Αλβανίας και κέρδισε το πρώτο βραβείο στο Observer Hodge Award. Το 2010 ο Μάκκας συμμετείχε στο καλλιτεχνικό πρόγραμμα “SETSE” στην Ακαδημία Καλών Τεχνών στο Ποζνάν της Πολωνίας. Το έργο του εκτέθηκε στη National Portrait Gallery στο Λονδίνο, στο Φεστιβάλ Φωτογραφίας Αθήνας, στο Φεστιβάλ MedPhoto στο Ρέθυμνο, στο Fotonoviembrein Valencia, στο Fotografia Europea στο Reggio Emilia, στο Le Voci dell’Inchiesta στο Pordenone, στο DUMBO Arts Festival στη Νέα Υόρκη και στο Design Biennial της Κωνσταντινούπολης, ενώ έργα του βρίσκονται στη μόνιμη συλλογή του Μουσείου Φωτογραφίας Θεσσαλονίκης. Ο Μάκκας ενδιαφέρεται για τη διατήρηση της μνήμης μέσα από την σκοπιά του φακού των μίντια. Οι πρακτικές περιλαμβάνουν τη φωτογραφία πορτραίτου, τη μαγνητοσκόπηση ανθρώπινων ιστοριών και την αποτύπωση του εξαφανισμένου προσώπου των πόλεων. Περισσότερα στο: https://www.gmakkas.com/about/index

Η Ioana Man είναι multidisciplinary designer με παρελθόν στην αρχιτεκτονική, στον σχεδιασμό και στην κριτική πρακτική. Το έργο της παράγει νέες συνδέσεις μεταξύ των πεδίων της αρχιτεκτονικής, της επιστήμης και των τελετουργιών με σκοπό να σχηματίσει, να ανακαλύψει και να φανταστεί εναλλακτικές μελλοντικές καταστάσεις. Πρόσφατα έχει εστιάσει την προσοχή της σε ένα μακροπρόθεσμο έργο που σκοπεύει να φέρει αρχιτέκτονες κοντύτερα στην μικροσκοπική κλίμακα και στους επιστήμονες που την αξιοποιούν μεθοδολογικά. Έργα της έχουν εκτεθεί με τη στήριξη του Open Platform στη Wellcome Collection και στην Αρχιτεκτονική Κοινότητα Λονδίνου. www.ioanaman.com

Ο Θοδωρής Προδρομίδης είναι visual artist και σκηνοθέτης που μένει στην Αθήνα. Έργα του έχουν εκτεθεί σε γκαλερί, μουσεία και φεστιβάλ όπως το Galerja Nova, το State of Concept, την 1η και 5η Biennale Θεσσαλονίκης, την 4η Biennale Αθήνας, το Werkleitz Zentrum Für Medienkunst και το Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt. Από το 2017 είναι Επισκέπτης Καλλιτέχνης στα πλαίσια του προγράμματος Risk Change στο Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Φιλοσοφίας της Επιστήμης του Εθνικού και Καποδιστριακού Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών και εθελοντής στο Ανοιχτό Σχολείο για Μετανάστες του Πειραιά. Είναι μέλος του Ιδρύματος Ριζοσπαστικής Φαντασίας, της κοινότητας του Δικτύου Σχολικής Αλληλεγγύης, καθώς και υπότροφος του Artworks, του Προγράμματος Καλλιτεχνικών Υποτροφιών του Ιδρύματος Σταύρος Νιάρχος για την περίοδο 2019-2020. www.theoprodromidis.info

Η Yağmur Uyanık είναι καλλιτέχνης από την Τουρκία με έδρα το Σαν Φρανσίσκο, με παρελθόν στα πεδία της αρχιτεκτονικής, των μίντια και της μουσικής. Το έργο της ερευνά την επανάληψη, την πρόοδο και την ασάφεια μέσα από τη δημιουργία οργάνων μετατόπισης με τη χρήση φωτός, ήχου και χώρου κι έχει ως στόχο να εκτείνει τα ψηφιακά μέσα σε τέτοιο σημείο ώστε να καταστούν φυσική εμπειρία. Η Uyanık έλαβε το Μεταπτυχιακό της στη Τέχνη & Τεχνολογία από Ίδρυμα Τέχνης του Σαν Φρανσίσκο ως υποτροφος Fulbright. Το έργο της έχει εκτεθεί σε διεθνές επίπεδο σε θεσμούς όπως το Ars Electronica, το Sonar D+, το Signal Light Festival, το MUTEK, το Exploratorium, την Ακαδημία Επιστημών της California και τη Diego Rivera Gallery. https://yagmuruyanik.com

Η παρούσα έκδοση δημιουργήθηκε με την οικονομική υποστήριξη της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης. Το περιεχόμενο αυτής είναι αποκλειστική ευθύνη του Βρετανικού Συμβουλίου και δεν αντανακλά απαραίτητα τις απόψεις της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης.

Furtherfield Gallery at the McKenzie Pavilion is located in the middle of Finsbury Park in North London, across the children’s playground from the cafe, next to the boating pond. Accessible between the gates near Finsbury Park Station and Manor House Station.

An exhibition of works born of cooperation and knowledge exchange between Turkish, Greek, Serbian and British artists seeking translocal solidarity in a hyper-connected world.

EXHIBITION NOW ONLINE

Exhibition Catalogue

SEE IMAGES FROM THE PRIVATE VIEW

EXHIBITION TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED
Due to universal restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic, Furtherfield Gallery is currently closed until further notice for the safety of staff and visitors. Please contact us at info@furtherfield.org if you need any information or assistance. Thank you for your understanding and patience. Stay safe.

TransLocal Cooperation exhibition, Connect for Creativity from Furtherfield on Vimeo.

What is TransLocal Cooperation?

As our world has become hyper-connected it has enabled us to simultaneously occupy or travel through numerous physical and virtual locations. A result of this is that we increasingly each identify with more than one place or culture. This social and cultural aspect of globalisation is often described in terms of ‘translocality’, where the events, conditions, and attachments of one location can rapidly influence and connect with another.

This exhibition and the works within it consider how we might organise for care across distances and differences with and for our translocal communities. It features a selection of artworks from those created by Turkish, Greek, Serbian and British artists during art and technology residences at the creative hubs ATÖLYE in Turkey, Bios in Greece, and Nova Iskra in Serbia. These artworks ask how we might celebrate plural identities and their creative expressions while opening up and sharing these new connections for greater cooperation and empathy.

Selected by our team of translocal Turkish, Greek, Serbian and British curators, the artworks in this exhibition employ a variety of media and technologies, from VR and 3D printing, to probiotic fermentation and ethnographic documentation. The artists visualise the challenges of peoples, cultures, and ideas, displaced over space and time, and explore how to re-evaluate and reconceive them for translocal solidarity and knowledge exchange in a rapidly changing world.

Crossing between the here and now, the there and then, between the flooding and ongoing displacement of people in Hasankeyf in Turkey to the displacement of citizens through evictions in Belgrade, Serbia, the artists use this occasion to examine the effects of globalisation on specific localities, but most significantly, to highlight how local concerns can inform, respond and interconnect across borders and cultures.

Connect for Creativity 

Connect for Creativity is an 18-month project led by the British Council, in collaboration with ATÖLYE and Abdullah Gül University in Turkey, Bios in Greece and Nova Iskra in Serbia. The project is part of the Intercultural Dialogue Programme that is led by the Yunus Emre Institute and is co-funded by the European Union and the Republic of Turkey. The project aims to form a network of creative hubs across Europe to foster creative exploration and collaboration that contributes to building a more cohesive, open and connected civil society.

Connect for Creativity’s Art and Technology Residency Programme brought together artists from Greece, Serbia, Turkey and the UK with a focus on the intercultural collaborative experience. Held simultaneously in Athens, Belgrade, and Istanbul, the residency hosted four artists in each city for a total of 12 participants in the programme. Throughout the immersive six-week programme, participants explored how a networked culture can develop cohesion to deal with the uncertainty and change that pervades modern life.

Exhibition Location 

The artworks are presented at Furtherfield Gallery in the heart of Finsbury Park. An urban green space used by roughly 55,000 people per week, Finsbury Park sits at the borders of three London boroughs in a neighbourhood described as ‘superdiverse’ for the nearly 200 languages spoken locally by large migrant communities. In particular, the area is home to the UK’s largest Turkish and Greek communities and sits adjacent to the UK’s largest Serbian community in West London. 

Artworks 

An Open Newspaper (You can’t evict a movement) by Theo Prodromidis in collaboration with Theodoros Karyotis, Tonia Katerini, Stathis Mitropoulos, Nemanja Pantović and Ana Vilenica

Addressing the processes that led to a surge of housing evictions in Serbia, this work connects to the Greek context where the legal framework for the protection of primary housing is planned to “expire” in April 2020. This collectively produced printed work acts as a vehicle of information about struggles in an ever-increasing global housing crisis.

Download and distribute your own copies now

Probiotic Rituals by Ioana Man

Cities are complex ecosystems and human existence within them depends on layered relations of care. Probiotic Rituals sets out to establish new customs for a more-than-human life in the city. Scaled up microbes, an AR interface, a website and a series of rituals, bring the human observer on par with the buzz of the biosphere and show society’s dependence on microscopic life. Multi-species rituals and imagery develop a process to improve cohabitation with the smaller elements of life in the city.

Selfmaking: Layers of Becoming With by Yağmur Uyanık

A 3D printed sandstone sculpture of a hybrid character created by fusing the digital models of two ‘original’ sculptures at the British Museum of: Alexander III of Macedon (commonly known as Alexander the Great); and Pericles of ancient Greek. Selfmaking combines sound and sculpture highlighting how creation, circulation and preservation of cultural information underlies geographical contexts, patterns of displacement, and statelessness. It reflects on how individual narrative and collective memory are shaped through cultural property, cultural currency, and their inherent symbolic meanings.

Stream of Consciousness / The Caves of Hasankeyf by Emmy Bacharach

In the form of a virtual reality experience, this work draws attention to the local and translocal significance of Hasankeyf, an ancient city in south-eastern Turkey whose existence is endangered by the Ilisu Dam project – which will cause the water levels of the Tigris river to rise and flood the town. It represents Hasankeyf using photogrammetry and visual material collected from the site, giving people a glimpse into the unique environment of the caves, many of which will shortly be flooded. Experienced from the point of view of the water, the viewer is present as the caves are gradually submerged, an experience that resonates with the trauma of a displaced local population.

Set In Stone by Tamara Kametani

As part of GDPR (The General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union) ‘the right to be forgotten’ means a person can have negative information about themselves removed from search listings under certain arguable instances. Set In Stone therefore forms a poetic meditation on the effect of materials on often immaterial-seeming aspects of translocal cultures. While debates rage about legitimate uses and abuses of both privacy and freedom of speech online, this work presents phrases about the life of data etched by hand onto Athenian marble, to provoke a historic reflection on or even memorialisation of the consequences of actions on and offline. 

Four stops to Kurtuluş by Georgios Makkas

This multichannel video explores the neighbourhood of Kurtuluş which has historically been known as ‘little Athens’ ( Küçük Atina in Turkish) thanks to a Greek population of over 20,000 people. Today this cosmopolitan neighborhood is home to Turkish, Greek, Armenian, Kurdish, and Jewish communities, while the historic Greek influence and population continue to dwindle. Centered around interviews with the Greek (Rum) people still living in the area, Makkas’s work seeks to preserve the memory of the ‘old Kurtuluş’, seizing a chance to document something that is about to disappear forever. 

Curators

Ruth Catlow, Lina Džuverović, Diana Georgiou, Huma Kabakcı

Exhibition Partners 

Furtherfield is London’s longest running art and technology (de)centre. With more than 20 years experience, through 50+ exhibitions, and over 100 international partnerships, they have developed a specialism in alternative systems of organisation and co-creation. Their work has been featured by the BBC, the Guardian, the New Scientist, Wired, the Art Newspaper and Hyperallergic. Highlighted on the Piccadilly Tube Line map of key destinations alongside Buckingham Palace, Furtherfield Gallery is in the Borough of Haringey – the UK’s local authority with the highest levels of income inequality. They strive to produce work that gives people a shared sense of ownership of their lives and localities.

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. They work with over 100 countries in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Last year, they reached over 65 million people directly and 731 million people overall including online, broadcasts and publications. They make a positive contribution to the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust. Founded in 1934, they are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body. They receive 15 percent core funding grant from the UK government. https://www.britishcouncil.org.tr

ATÖLYE is a 21st-century creative organization with an award-winning Strategic Design Studio that is nested within a creative hub. A is a member of the European Creative Hubs Network and is represented in the Steering Committee. ATÖLYE is also part of the kyu Collective, a collective of strategically curated creative businesses whose purpose is to be a source of creativity which propels economies and societies forward. ATÖLYE’s work encompasses all facets of creative consulting including strategy, design, architecture, and technology. It provides these services through a unique modern network of practitioners. https://atolye.io/en/home/

Bios is the independent cultural organisation of Athens that promotes the arts, new media, young creatives and new entrepreneurship since 2002. Bios supports the innovative creative force of Athens, creates interdisciplinary common space for the arts and science, for social and entrepreneurial life and it influences and contributes in the shaping of the cultural identity of Athens. http://www.romantso.gr

Nova Iskra is a pioneering creative hub in the Balkans. Nova Iskra is created with the idea to incite tangible connections between creative industries, technology, and the people, with the goal to support critical thinking, nurture ideas, design organizations and develop businesses that are future-proof, while remaining sensible to the ever-changing present. https://novaiskra.com/en/

Abdullah Gül University was founded by the Kayseri City Council and other city notables in 2007. The aim was to raise the profile of education in Kayseri in line with the city’s own vision of its development. The University was named after the 11th president of the Turkish Republic, Abdullah Gül, who has accepted this honor, for the university is being dedicated to the quest to become a distinguished high-quality university in Turkey and be able to compete with international institutions. The university was formally founded on 21 July 2010 as Turkey’s first foundation-supported State University. AGU admitted its first students in 2013 – 2014 Academic Year. Education is being conducted at the site of Turkey’s first industrial complex, which is being transformed from a place of great historical significance to be a notable place of education. http://www.agu.edu.tr/

CFCU was established following the decision of the Helsinki Summit of the European Council on 10-11 December 1999 to accept Turkey as a candidate country. The main Framework of Turkey-EU financial cooperation has changed and EU financial assistance was directed towards the pre-accession goals and ultimately full membership. This change led Turkey to establish a ‘Decentralised Implementation System (DIS)’ under which the CFCU is also operating. The CFCU, as the Implementing Agency, is responsible for the overall budgeting, tendering, contracting, payments, accounting and financial reporting aspects of all procurement of services, supplies, works, and grants in the context of EU funded programmes. Under the responsibility of a ‘Programme Authorising Officer (PAO)’, the CFCU ensures that the EU rules, regulations and procedures pertaining to the procurement are adhered to and that a proper reporting system is functioning. The CFCU is administratively linked to the Undersecretariat of Treasury which is responsible for the financial management of EU funded programmes. https://www.cfcu.gov.tr/

Yunus Emre Foundation is a public foundation, which was founded to promote Turkey, Turkish language, its history and culture and art, make such related information and documents available for use in the world, provide services abroad to people who want to have education in the fields of Turkish language, culture and art, to improve the friendship between Turkey and other countries and increase the cultural exchange. As an institution affiliated to the Foundation, Yunus Emre Institute is carrying out studies for Turkish teaching in the cultural centers established abroad to accomplish the purposes of this law as well as conducting culture and art activities to promote our country, and giving support to scientific researches. https://www.yee.org.tr/en

The EU-Turkey Intercultural Dialogue Programme, led by the Yunus Emre Institute and co-financed by the European Union and Republic of Turkey will improve the cultural dialogue between the EU and Turkey by bringing different institutions with different cultural backgrounds together under a financial support allocated for arts and culture. https://icd.yee.org.tr

Contributor Biographies

Emmy Bacharach is a spatial practitioner, audio-visual artist, and DJ working at the intersection of architecture, sound, film and immersive technologies. Her work explores the social, political and spatial possibilities of appropriating digital technologies. Emmy’s background is in architecture, which she studied at the University of Cambridge and later completed her masters at the Royal College of Art, where she began to explore moving image, sound and immersive technologies. Her installation work ’Proxy Architecture’, which was featured at the Volumetric Ecologies: Environments, Bodies and Mediated Worlds showcase at Goldsmiths Digital Studios, immerses the viewer in a virtual world, a floating city composed of digital fragments of Istanbul, speculating on the collective potential of virtual space. Her research project ‘Sonic Urbanism in Detroit: Techno as a Spatial Act’, investigates the impact of urban space on musical subculture, arguing for the spatial agency of techno production and sonic collectivity in the context of Detroit’s post-industrial urban condition. She is a co-founder of Xcessive Aesthetics, an interdisciplinary design collective exploring data and augmented reality in the built environment . https://www.rca.ac.uk/students/emmy-bacharach/

Ruth Catlow is Co-Founding Artistic Director of Furtherfield and a leading authority on emancipatory network cultures, practices and poetics. She has co-curated over 60 digital arts exhibitions around themes of placemaking, alternative economies and the commons. Keynote speaker and author of countless publications on art, technology and social change, including editing the internationally acclaimed Artists Re:Thinking the Blockchain. In 2019 her blockchain and the arts lab series, DAOWO, produced with Ben Vickers (Serpentine Galleries) and Goethe-Institut won a European Centre for Creative Economy ‘NICE’ award. She heads DECAL, Furtherfield’s DeCentralised Arts Lab, developing cross sector partnerships for new economic models for the arts.

Dr Lina Džuverović is a curator and Lecturer in Arts Policy and Management at Birkbeck College, University of London. Her research focuses on ways in which the sphere of contemporary art can become a site of solidarity and community-building. Previously Lina taught at the University of Reading, at IZK –Institute for Contemporary Art, TU Graz, Austria, was Artistic Director of Calvert 22 Foundation, founding director of the London-based agency Electra and has held curatorial roles at ICA and the Lux Centre, London and Momentum Biennial, Norway. She was the 2006 Decibel Mid-Career Curatorial Fellow, Arts Council England.

Diana Georgiou is a writer and curator based in London. Her curatorial practice employs queer, feminist and decolonial practices and theories to generate spaces of encounter that can foster dialogue, experimentation and collaboration within and outside institutional parameters. Her most recent co-curated project EcoFutures (London, 2019) focused on the implications of ecological issues on gender, race and sexuality and involved 10 partner organisations with the participation of over 70 artists, theorists and activists. Selected projects include the touring video art exhibition Transitional States: Hormones at the Intersections of Art & Science (London, Lincoln, Barcelona, Bologna, 2017-18); Deep Trash Live Art Programme (London, 2017-18); the 2-week programme Now You Can Go which considered feminist thinking, art and activism, taking place across The Showroom, the ICA, Space Studios and Raven Row (London, 2015). Georgiou holds a PhD in Visual Culture from Goldsmiths, University of London, offering an innovative account of the relationship between art-writing and subjectivity through the lens of feminist psychoanalytic theories.

Huma Kabakcı (b. in 1990, London) is a second-generation collector, independent curator and founding director of Open Space, living and working between London and Istanbul. Kabakcı holds a BA in Advertising & Marketing from London College of Communication and a MA in Curating Contemporary Art from the Royal College of Art. She has worked at various galleries, museums and auction houses, both in the UK and Turkey, including Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Sales department (London), The Albion Gallery (London) and Pera Museum (Istanbul). Kabakcı has a special interest in Turkish, Middle Eastern contemporary art and emerging contemporary art in London. Her curatorial research lies in subjects such as diaspora, migration, cultural identity, cross-cultural dialogue and memory. She has contributed to publications including Border_less, FAD Magazine, the Guggenheim Blog, IAN (Istanbul Art News) and SYRUP Magazine. In 2018 Kabakcı completed a curatorial fellowship at Liverpool Biennial. Most recent project includes Tender Touches (London) co-curated by Inês Neto dos Santos, organised by Open Space. 

Tamara Kametani is a Slovak born London based visual artist working across a variety of media including installation, video, photography and sculpture with an emphasis on site-specificity. Amongst the underlying concerns in her practice are the topics surrounding power relations, surveillance, privacy, and access to information. She is particularly interested in the role that technology plays in the construction of contemporary and historical narratives and the new experiences it enables. She received her master’s degree in Contemporary Art Practice from the Royal College of Art in 2017. Kametani has participated in a number of artist residencies and exhibited internationally. Recent commissions and exhibitions include Swayze effect, Platform Southwark curated by AGORAMA, London (2019); 404- Resistance in the Digital Age, RAGE Collective, CFCCA, Manchester (2019); For the Time Being, The Photographers’ Gallery, curated by CCA Royal College of Art, London (2019); Digital Diaspora, Studio 44, Stockholm (2019); Summer Show, Florence Trust, London (2018) and Triennial of Photography, Hamburg (2018).  https://www.tamarakametani.com/

Georgios Makkas was born in Athens in 1977 and had a strong interest in photography from an early age. He graduated from the Documentary Photography course in Newport, UK. His work about the depopulation of rural Albania won the first prize in the Observer Hodge Award. In 2010, Makkas participated in the artist in residence programme ‘SETSE’ at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan, Poland. His work has been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in London, Athens Photo Festival, MedPhoto Festival in Rethymno, Fotonoviembrein Valencia, Fotografia Europea in Reggio Emilia, Le Voci dell’Inchiesta in Pordenone, DUMBO Arts Festival in New York and the Istanbul Design Biennial, and also held in the permanent collection of the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography. Makkas is interested in the preservation of memory through lens-based media. His practice involves taking portraits, listening and filming people’s stories and documenting the disappearing face of cities. More at https://www.gmakkas.com/about/index

Ioana Man is a multidisciplinary designer with a background in architecture, set design and critical practice. She produces new encounters between the fields of architecture, science, and rituals in order to shape, invent and reimagine alternative futures. Currently, her focus is on a long-term project that aims to bring architects closer to the microscopic scale and to the scientists that harness it. She has had work commissioned by Open Platform at the Wellcome Collection and exhibited at the Architectural Association in London.
www.ioanaman.com
www.probiotic-rituals.com

Theo Prodromidis is a visual artist and film director based in Athens. His work has been exhibited and screened in galleries, museums and festivals including Galerija Nova, State of Concept, 1st and 5th Thessaloniki Biennale, 4th Athens Biennale, Werkleitz Zentrum Für Medienkunst and Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt.Since 2017, he has been a Visiting Artist under the program Risk Change at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and a volunteer at the Open School for Immigrants of Piraeus. Ηe is a member of the Institute of Radical Imagination and a member of the assembly of Solidarity Schools Network. He is currently a fellow of Artworks,  Stavros Niarchos Foundation Artist Fellowship Program, 2019-2020. www.theoprodromidis.info

Yağmur Uyanık is a Turkish artist based in San Francisco with backgrounds in architecture, new media and music. Her work explores repetition, process and intangibility through creating instruments of displacement using light, sound and space with an aim to extend the digital media to a point that it becomes a physical experience. Uyanık has received her MFA in Art & Technology from San Francisco Art Institute as a Fulbright scholar. Her work was shown internationally at institutions including Ars Electronica, Sonar D+, Signal Light Festival, MUTEK, Exploratorium, California Academy of Sciences and Diego Rivera Gallery. https://yagmuruyanik.com

This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of British Council and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.

Furtherfield Gallery at the McKenzie Pavilion is located in the middle of Finsbury Park in North London, across the children’s playground from the cafe, next to the boating pond. Accessible between the gates near Finsbury Park Station and Manor House Station.

A list of recommendations, reflecting the dynamic culture we are part of, straddling the fields of art, technology and social change.

Events, Exhibitions, Festivals and Conferences

TransLocal Cooperation Exhibition | 13 March – 19 April | An exhibition of works born of cooperation and knowledge exchange between Turkish, Greek, Serbian and British artists seeking translocal solidarity in a hyper-connected world. As our world has become hyper-connected it has enabled us to simultaneously occupy or travel through numerous physical and virtual locations. A result of this is that we increasingly each identify with more than one place or culture. This social and cultural aspect of globalisation is often described in terms of ‘translocality’, where the events, conditions, and attachments of one location can rapidly influence and connect with another | Furtherfield Gallery | Finsbury Park, London | Opening Event | Thur, 12 Mar, 18:00 – 20:00 | Booking Essential – https://cutt.ly/ntwYrtw

Cassie Thornton presents The Hologram: Collective Health as a “Beautiful Art Work” | A series of talks from the Love Machines season | Artist Cassie Thornton, of the Feminist Economics Department (the FED), will discuss The Hologram, a mythoreal collective peer-to-peer health project currently incubating at Furtherfield Gallery in London. The Hologram, based on the understanding that all our crises are connected and everyone is a little sick, is a viral four-person health monitoring and diagnostic system practiced from couches all over the world. This health distribution system is based on the experimental care models developed in the Social Solidarity Clinics in Greece during the height of the financial and migration crisis. The result is the construction of a robust network of multi-dimensional health, collectively oriented social practices, and trust that can outlive racial capitalism as an act of resistance. Furtherfield Commons, Finsbury Park London, UK | 10 March 2020, Tues 18 March 2020, Weds 13:30 – 17:00 | Booking Required – https://cutt.ly/ntwYddK

Dawn of the Transhuman Era | Tuesday, 17 March 2020 | Transhumanism argues that we should preserve and extend the unique properties that make us human by radically altering ourselves and the environment around us. Recently transhumanist thinking has seen a resurgence thanks to new technological developments that point towards the possibility that many of its promises will be realised. This raises a number of challenging issues that aspiring transhumanists must soon face: from how they will choose to manipulate or upgrade their body; to how they will approach the taboo of death – especially if, in principle, you could live forever | Join transhumanist Prof. Steve Fuller and bioethics researcher Francesca Minerva for FUTURES Podcast LIVE, Hosted by The Truman Brewery, FUTURES Podcast, Schwabe Verlag, Experimental Thought Co, and Luke Robert Mason – Eventbrite – https://bit.ly/2TBEOT0

Deffffffficiency | Solo exhibition by Joana Moll | 18 March 2020 – 04 April 2020 | Panke gallery, Berlin | Joana Moll is a Barcelona/Berlin based artist and researcher. Her work critically explores the way post-capitalist narratives affect the alphabetization of machines, humans and ecosystems. Her main research topics include Internet materiality, surveillance, social profiling and interfaces – https://cutt.ly/ctekvX2

Workshop: Subvertising for the Right to Housing | Hosted by Disruption Network Lab | Thursday, 26 March 2020 | With Steal This Poster (Subvertising Collective IT/UK) and Kunstblock And Beyond (DE) | Subvertising is the combination between subvert and advertising. During this workshop we will work with Steal This Poster (Rome/London), and Kunstblock (Berlin) to learn tactics and techniques of subvertising related to aggressive corporations in the context of housing eviction.Part of the Disruption Network Lab 19th conference: “EVICTED BY GREED: Global finance,  Housing & Resistance” (27-28 March, 2020, Studio 1, Kunstquartier Bethanien). Location: Supermarkt Berlin, Mehringplatz 9, 10969 Berlin – https://pretix.eu/disruptionlab/evicted/

The Festival of Alternative Art Education | Festival of Alternative Art Education, London | Sat 21st March | Fuelled by economic crisis, austerity and the liberalisation of higher education, the landscape of alternative art education features a multitude of diverse organisations that offer free or affordable art education. Bringing together alternative art schools, peer-support groups and collectives in a range of events, performances, discussions, installations, stalls and workshops on education, pedagogy, peer-support, co-operation, self-organisation, labour and precarity. Come along to participate, learn, play and meet representatives from the schools to find out what they do, how to get involved or how to start your own art school – https://bit.ly/3ai94ZF

Zanele Muholi | Tate Modern presents the first major mid-career survey of visual activist Muholi in the UK | 29 April – 18 October 2020 | Born in South Africa, Muholi came to prominence in the early 2000s with photographs that sought to envision black lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and intersex lives beyond deviance or victimhood. Muholi’s work challenges hetero-patriarchal ideologies and representations, presenting the participants in their photographs as confident and beautiful individuals bravely existing in the face of prejudice, intolerance and, frequently, violence. Muholi’s striking portraits will be on display in their upcoming exhibition at Tate Modern – https://bit.ly/2VEU97B

Books, Open Calls, Papers & Publications

Call Out | Let’s Create An Artist in Every Community (and let’s create it now)… | Stephen Pritchard | This article sets out how we could easily and relatively cheaply employ artists in everyday community and how such a simple, yet radical system would create just the sort of transformative cultural change that is at the heart of Arts Council England’s new 10-year strategy, Let’s Create. Create a working group to develop this idea and hopefully trial it as a participatory action research project somewhere. So get in touch if you’re interested – https://cutt.ly/5twO1Uy

Control Shift | Call out open for artworks, workshops and provocations | Deadline 15th March | An exciting new arts programme coming to Bristol (UK) in June 2020 exploring creative and critical approaches to technology, rooted in embodiment and materiality. Control Shift asks how we can reframe and rethink our relationships with technology. How could we conceive of new possibilities beyond neoliberal versions of computing? What might happen if there was more space for poetic or tactile engagements with the digital? Can we reconsider our connections, responsibilities and embodied entanglements with technology? – https://www.control-shift.network/

Call Out: Piet Zwart Institute Experimental Publishing (XPUB) | A two-year master focussed on the acts of making things public and creating publics in the age of post-digital networks. Calling all AI hiding blockchain comics, adults screaming hyper-binary screensavers, governments designing multi-DIWO architectures, viruses disrupting top-down traditions, hobbyists sending non-industrial software, teachers seeing copyrighted blogs, whistleblowers spamming shared files, celebrities criticizing homemade synthesizers, judges demanding AI carpets, individuals showing inter-anarcho-capitalist corruption, more here – https://www.pzwart.nl/experimental-publishing/

Applications Deadlines: 06.03.2020: NON-EU + EU priority | 24.04.2020: Final EU deadline

The new Neural issue | (co-edited with Nicolas Maigret, Maria Roszkowska) is hot from the press. Subscribe now! Because only subscribers will get a free extra Post-Growth Toolkit by Nicolas Maigret and Maria Roszkowska. You can also subscribe to the magazine Digital Edition accessing all issues since #29. Or you can buy the magazine from the closest of the almost 300 stores stocking it. A back issues pack is available – http://neural.it/issues/neural-64-post-growth/

Mycelium Network Society | An open, living, organic network. Observing the concept of nature’s distributed network in self-expanding mode, we seek your participation as a node, a node that cultivates locally and connects globally. Interlacing mosaics of mycelium infuse habitats with information-sharing membranes. The mycelium stays in constant molecular communication with its environment, devising diverse enzymatic and chemical responses to complex challenges. To become a node join Mycelium Network Society – http://mns.stwst.at/

Open Call: Summer Sessions 2020 | V2_Lab for Unstable Media | The Summer Sessions are short-term international art and technology residencies for emerging artists and designers. A network of cultural organizations all over the world sponsors and hosts the residencies. Every summer we offer early-career artists and designers support so they can take part in production residencies abroad. If selected, you will gain an opportunity to work in a highly productive atmosphere with support, feedback and expert supervision. Each Summer Sessions residency lasts approximately eight weeks and takes place between June and September. During this period you will develop your project from concept to presentable work, ready to show – https://cutt.ly/1twSy99

A Course in: Feminist Art and Exhibitions: History and Challenges | Online Course by Node Center, Berlin | By Anja Foerschner | Duration: Apr 08 – Apr 29, 2020, Enroll before: Apr 4, 2020 | This course will look at how feminist thinking has influenced the arts since the 1960s, both in Western as well as selected non-Western contexts. It will present the foundational feminist theories that furthered the radicalization of female artists and trace their manifestation in the visual arts. Due to its strong political content and often taboo-breaking visuality, feminist art continues to present its own set of challenges to curators and museum professionals. The course will introduce students to the most important exhibitions of feminist art and discuss their strategies, premises, and criticism. In addition, the course will present curatorial practices and exhibition formats that follow feminist premises – https://nodecenter.net/course/feminist-art

A DAO of One’s Own? Feminist strategies for P2P Organisations | White paper by Denise Thwaites | On P2Pmodels | Experiments in building and deploying Decentralized Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) have proliferated, marking a transition (in many cases) from software design and development towards alpha and beta testing stages. From a technical perspective this is a key moment in the evolution of such systems, as communities of users test and provide feedback on the functionality of these products. For those interested in the potential social impact of DAOs, the stakes of this moment are even higher: it is the period where community needs are defined beyond the theoretical user. It provides opportunities to challenge the form and functionality of these decentralized socio-technical infrastructures while they are still relatively plastic. For this reason, we must look closely at the composition of participants at this stage of DAO development, to consider whether their engagement can lay foundations for alternative social configurations, or further entrench existing social biases – https://cutt.ly/PtwYbcL

The Ghost In You by Jeremy Hight | On WTBC Radio | Is your life like a ghost… or is a ghost living in your life? Would either of you know it? In this novel, a teacher comes to grips with the emptiness of her life, while a ghost attempts to do the same. This novel explores the places where many of us live, inside and outside of our heads. Limited to 100 Print copies, with a translucent cover. Get yours today – https://cutt.ly/itri9Xs

Women Warriors: An Unexpected History | By Pamela D. Toler | Who says women don’t go to war? From Vikings and African queens to cross-dressing military doctors and WWII Russian fighter pilots, these are the stories of women for whom battle was not a metaphor. The woman warrior is always cast as an anomaly—Joan of Arc, not GI Jane. But women, it turns out, have always gone to war. In this fascinating and lively world history, Pamela Toler not only introduces us to women who took up arms, she also shows why they did it and what happened when they stepped out of their traditional female roles to take on other identities | Published by Beacon Press – https://cutt.ly/2twwAqO

Articles, Interviews, Presentations, videos

Silvia Federici: The joyful militancy of feminism | By Julius Gavroche | Interview conducted by Victoria Furtado and Mariana Menéndez | While throughout the world the fourth feminist strike is being prepared in hundreds of meetings, activities and assemblies, listening to Silvia Federici is inspiring. In a stop in her travelling about the world, sharing keys of understanding and giving courage, Silvia met with us at her home in New York to discuss current feminist struggles, the popular revolts of recent months, the tensions of feminism with the left and the highlights of her latest book – https://cutt.ly/utwOPn5

B-hind. Celebrating the internet of anal things| Regine Debatty reviews the product launch performance of B-hind: intimate innovation by Dani Ploeger | V2_, the Lab for the Unstable Media in Rotterdam, and In4Art, an organisation dedicated to “art-driven innovation”, challenged artists to select one of the works realised at V2_ over the course of its 40 year old history and to reimagine, reengineer and reenact it today. The first experiment in the series is by Dani Ploeger. The artist and cultural critic decided to revisit Stelarc’s Amplified Body, a performance that took place in 1994 and engaged with the relationship between humans, machines and the surrounding space and ultimately the role and functioning of the body – https://cutt.ly/EtwYJkz

Oceans between Sound | An album from intercultural tele-improvisation internet based music ensemble Ethernet Orchestra. A selection of live improvisations by the internet based music ensemble, Ethernet Orchestra. The album was recorded during located venue performances and online sessions between 2014-2019, featuring musicians from a diverse range of cultures, performing across international time-zones and physical locations in Brazil, the USA, Canada, UK, Germany and Australia. The music was inspired by the ebb and flow of network data as a metaphor for the world’s oceans and waterways separating the members of the ensemble, and their geographically dispersed lives | Published on the Pueblo Nuevo Netlabel – https://cutt.ly/7tebPQ6

For sale: Sponsored Influenza Pandemic Evacuation Rehearsal booklet by Heath Bunting & Kayle Brandon 2005/6 | “A flu pandemic would inevitably take the Cube Microplex and other entertainment venues out of business. We intend to sow the seeds of rebirth by preserving the values and methods embodied within our workers by providing effective advice and procedures for their physical survival. This report is a developmental first step in this DIY health programme.” Price 200.00 eur (plus packaging and postage)

Artist signed booklet from 2005 Pandemic Evacuation Rehearsal. http://duo.irational.org/siper/report/siper_document01.pdf
http://duo.irational.org/siper/

Bus Regulation: The Musical | Ellie Harrison | Video of performance | Inspired by the 1980s hit musical ‘Starlight Express’, the new performance / event re-enacts the history of public transport provision in Greater Manchester from the post-war period to the present day… on roller skates!Staged at Manchester Art Gallery for the closing celebration of the Get Together & Get Things Done exhibition on Saturday 28 September 2019, Bus Regulation: The Musical is produced in collaboration with the Better Buses for Greater Manchester campaign, the Association of British Commuters and local roller skaters – https://www.ellieharrison.com/busregulation/

The Smithsonian Puts 2.8 Million High-Res Images Online and Into the Public Domain | Open Culture | The Smithsonian has released 2.8 million images into the public domain, making them searchable, shareable, and downloadable through the museum’s Open Access platform. This huge release of “high resolution two- and three-dimensional images from across its collections,” notes Smithsonian Magazine, “is just the beginning. Throughout the rest of 2020, the Smithsonian will be rolling out another 200,000 or so images, with more to come as the Institution continues to digitize its collection of 155 million items and counting.” – https://cutt.ly/xtwY9Rm

Let’s Talk about Sex (and Race and Colonialism) | By Layla-Roxanne Hill | As Western societies continue to experience social, environmental and economic crises, our ideas and beliefs on what constitutes work and what kinds of work are valued are ever changing: whether it be the ways care and sexual labour are regarded, the role of exploitation and criminalisation, or imagining what a post-work terrain could look like. Combined with an ever-increasing awareness the impact automation technology like artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics will have on jobs, skills, and wages, the future of work continues to be one of the most debatable topics of 2019 – https://cutt.ly/ltwYNRX

Image: from Panke Gallery, Berlin, for Deffffffficiency. Solo exhibition by Joana Moll. 18 March 2020 – 04 April 2020.

The FurtherList Archives
https://www.furtherfield.org/the-furtherlist-archives/

Please join us to help make and play a game for multispecies cooperation. 

How do we collectively care for Finsbury Park?

Which people and which creatures? 

What part would you like to play?

We invite you to join us at Furtherfield to explore these questions. Together we will make and play a game with various characters, imagining Finsbury Park in 2025 as the place where a global multispecies revolution begins – and changes the world forever. 

How can you get involved?

Originally planned for the Summer of 2020, the first community meetings took place in March, however Covid-19 has paused the development of this project. If you would like to work with the game designers Cade and Ruth, and each other, from Furtherfield Commons and online email Ruth at ruthcatlow [at] gmail.com. 

About The Treaty of Finsbury Park 2025

At Summer Solstice a visiting delegation of artists, equipped with park blueprints, bylaws, data-sources, historical documents, and policies, will work with local envoys who present testimony from the many human and non-human lives of the park. Together, the two parties will work to mutually devise a treaty to govern the future actions of multispecies park users, turning the park itself into a “love machine”. This culminates in a public ceremonial treaty signing event. 

With a bit of luck the game, final treaty, audio recordings, photographs, and resulting artistic responses are now planned for development and exhibition at Furtherfield in the Summer of 2021. Part role play game, part participatory performance, this event will be based at Furtherfield Commons and across Finsbury Park for three days at the Summer Solstice.

The Treaty of Finsbury Park 2025: On systems, ecologies as networks, colonialism and seizing rituals of power.

Read the essay
Hear the discussion between Ruth and Cade on the Furtherfield Podcast
Illustration by Sajan Rai.

If you have any questions or would like more information email Ruth at ruthcatlow [at] gmail.com. 

This project is supported by CreaTures – Creative Practices for Transformational Futures. CreaTures project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 870759. The content presented represents the views of the authors, and the European Commission has no liability in respect of the content.

This is an invitation to participate in focus group research that is also a game

How are attitudes to data transparency and consumer ethics shifting?

We would like to invite you to participate in our research study that takes the form of a game with many characters called Fictional Focus Group. 

If you decide to take part we you will join a role-play game with 10-15 other people. You will get to escape your lock-down reality and play the role of a unique character who faces all the complex challenges of contemporary life.

The event itself will involve group discussion about the tricky choices your characters make as consumers or providers of food, clothing and money services. The game reveals the possible consequences of their actions as their data is reused in unforeseen ways.

The event will last for about 3 hours including 2 hours in the game and two 15 minutes breaks. Due to Covid-19, we are hosting this event online, using Zoom.

There are two sessions available:
29 and 30th June 2020
13.30 – 16.30
(now to be run online due to Covid-19)

For any enquiries, please email info@furtherfield.org

About the project

Findings contribute to a report, Glass Houses: Understanding transparency in information economies 2020.

Glass Houses is a research project that aims to investigate an end-user’s perception, understanding, and expectation of transparency in their engagement with modern information society, and in particular the role technologies, such as distributed ledgers, play in such engagement. It is funded by EPSRC through their Digital Economy Theme. glass-houses.cs.ucl.ac.uk

UCL Glass Houses Research Team: Sarah Meiklejohn is an Associate Professor in Cryptography and Security at University College London (UCL). Kruakae Pothong is a Research Fellow in Distributed Ledgers at University College London (UCL).

Fictional Focus Group is a Furtherfield/DECAL project created by Ruth Catlow with the UCL Glass Houses research team, developed in collaboration with Max Dovey.

A collective health project by Cassie Thornton and The Feminist Economics Department (the FED)

An insurgency of sick artists is organising to resist the global crisis of care, from bed and over the phone. In these days of compulsive overwork in the so-called creative economy, we’re all sick artists. Using ancient technologies of peer-to-peer care, a grassroots health monitoring and diagnostic system is emerging, practiced from beds and couches all over the world. Participants co-produce a multi-dimensional image of each other’s physical, psychological, and social health. We call this image The Hologram. Through workshops in the spring and at Furtherfield Gallery or online in the autumn, visitors can learn about the Hologram and audition for a place in this viral sci-fi health system. Look out for couch-based performances throughout Finsbury Park.

The Hologram is part of Furtherfield’s three-year Citizen Sci-Fi  programme crowdsourcing creative and technological visions of our communities and public spaces, together.

2020 is the year of Love Machines, nurturing living and machine systems for mutual care and respect on earth and beyond.

Love Machines Exhibition: 15 May – 21 Oct, Sat – Sun, 11:00 – 17:00, or by apt, Furtherfield Gallery, Website, and Social Media

Events

• The Hologram presented for discussion by Cassie Thornton | ONLINE PRESENTATION | 1 April, Weds | 13:30 – 16:30 | Booking Essential

• The Hologram – Is this the end or the beginning? | ONLINE COURSE | 7, 14, 21, 28 April | Tuesday Evenings | 18:30 – 20:30 | Booking Essential

Please note The Hologram talk and workshops are now taking place online as a response to pandemic restrictions. Contact info@furtherfield.org if you need any further information or assistance.

Cassie Thornton is an artist and activist who makes a “safe space” for the unknown, for disobedience and for unanticipated collectivity. She uses social practices including institutional critique, insurgent architecture, and “healing modalities” like hypnosis and yoga to find soft spots in the hard surfaces of capitalist life. Cassie has invented a grassroots alternative credit reporting service for the survivors of gentrification, has hypnotized hedge fund managers, has finger-painted with the grime found inside banks, has donated cursed paintings to profiteering bankers, and has taught feminist economics to yogis (and vice versa). She has worked in close collaboration with freelance curators and producers including Taraneh Fazeli, Magdalena Jadwiga Härtelova, Dani Admiss, Amanda Nudelman, Misha Rabinovich, Caitlin Foley, and Laurel Ptak. Her projects, invited and uninvited, have appeared at (or in collaboration with) Transmediale Festival for Media Arts, San Francisco MoMA, West Den Haag, Moneylab, Swissnex San Francisco, Pro Arts Gallery & Commons, Dream Farm Commons, Furtherfield, Gallery 400, Strike Debt Bay Area, Red Bull Detroit, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, Flux Factory, Bemis Center for the Arts, Berliner Gazette and more.

An Online Presentation + Workshop for Social Isolation in the Love Machines Season

Artist Cassie Thornton, of the Feminist Economics Department (the FED), will discuss The Hologram, a mythoreal collective peer-to-peer health project currently incubating at Furtherfield Gallery in London.

The Hologram, based on the understanding that all our crises are connected and everyone is a little sick, is a viral four-person health monitoring and diagnostic system practiced from couches all over the world.

Three non-expert participants create a three-dimensional “hologram” of a fourth participant’s physical, psychological and social health, and each becomes, in turn, the focus of three other people’s care in an expanding network.

This health distribution system is based on the experimental care models developed in the Social Solidarity Clinics in Greece during the height of the financial and migration crisis. The result is the construction of a robust network of multi-dimensional health, collectively oriented social practices, and trust that can outlive racial capitalism.

The presentation will be followed by a discussion of themes and topics. We welcome artists, healers, activists and system builders with an interest in alternative infrastructures and care as an act of resistance.

BOOKING ESSENTIAL

Please note The Hologram talk and workshops are now taking place online due to pandemic restrictions. Contact info@furtherfield.org if you need any further information or assistance.

About the artist

Cassie Thornton is an artist and activist who makes a “safe space” for the unknown, for disobedience and for unanticipated collectivity. She uses social practices including institutional critique, insurgent architecture, and “healing modalities” like hypnosis and yoga to find soft spots in the hard surfaces of capitalist life. Cassie has invented a grassroots alternative credit reporting service for the survivors of gentrification, has hypnotized hedge fund managers, has finger-painted with the grime found inside banks, has donated cursed paintings to profiteering bankers, and has taught feminist economics to yogis (and vice versa). She has worked in close collaboration with freelance curators and producers including Taraneh Fazeli, Magdalena Jadwiga Härtelova, Dani Admiss, Amanda Nudelman, Misha Rabinovich, Caitlin Foley and Laurel Ptak. Her projects, invited and uninvited, have appeared at (or in collaboration with) Transmediale Festival for Media Arts, San Francisco MoMA, West Den Haag, Moneylab, Swissnex San Francisco, Pro Arts Gallery & Commons, Dream Farm Commons, Furtherfield, Gallery 400, Strike Debt Bay Area, Red Bull Detroit, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, Flux Factory, Bemis Center for the Arts, Berliner Gazette and more.

The Hologram is part of Furtherfield’s three-year Citizen Sci-Fi programme crowdsourcing creative and technological visions of our communities and public spaces, together.

2020 is the year of Love Machines, nurturing living and machine systems for mutual care and respect on earth and beyond.

Exploring ecological conditions with the screen, this film programme recognises an alignment of self-with-other and human-with-nonhuman. Tapping into “thought-queering” as a tactic, the audience is asked to re-imagine ways of communicating as means for creating other discourse about the ongoing ecological crisis: to decentralise the concept of the self; to queer the thought process; and to occupy a multiplicity of positions.

Featuring films from Jonathas de Andrade, O Peixe (The Fish) (2016), and Zheng Bo, Pteridophilia 3 (2018). Curated by Dennis Dizon, in association with Furtherfield as part of a micro-residency.

The event is FREE! RSVP here.

About the Series

Matters of… is an ongoing critical inquiry into a queer techno-ecological. The project adopts psychosocial research methodologies, queer theory and theories of media and communication through the lens of Visual Culture. Matters of Concern is the first phase of the Matters of research series.

About the Artists

Zheng Bo is an artist committed to multispecies vibrancy. He investigates the past and imagines the future from the perspectives of marginalized communities and marginalized plants. He has worked with a number of art spaces in Asia and Europe, most recently ICA at NYU Shanghai, @KCUA in Kyoto, Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong, Parco Arte Vivente in Torino, TheCube Project Space in Taipei, and Villa Vassilieff in Paris. His works have been included in the performance program of the 58th Venice Biennale, Manifesta 12, the 11th Taipei Biennial, and the 11th Shanghai Biennial. In 2020, as artist-in-residence at the Gropius Bau in Berlin, he will collaborate with scientists to understand, speculate, and imagine how plants practice politics. He currently teaches at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong, where he leads the Wanwu Practice Group.

Jonathas de Andrade works with installation, photography, and video to explore constructs of love and the process of urbanization, with particular emphasis on Brazil’s vibrant but often ignored northeast region. De Andrade has had solo museum exhibitions in Instituto Cultural Itaú in São Paulo, Instituto Cultural Banco Real in Recife, Centro Cultural São Paulo, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de São Paulo, Kunsthalle Lissabon in Lisbon, Musée d’art Contemporain de Montréal, Museu de Arte do Rio, Museu de Arte de São Paulo, The Power Plant in Toronto, and New Museum in New York. He has participated at New Museum Triennial in New York, 29th São Paulo Biennial, Istanbul Biennial, Lyon Biennial, Performa15 in New York, Bienal de São Paulo, among others. He is also a former artist-in-residence at Gasworks in London. De Andrade lives and works in Recife.

About the Curator

Dennis Dizon is an independent digital research curator. He runs MATTERS OF — an ongoing critical inquiry into a queer techno-ecological. Dennis is a 2019 recipient of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation’s Archives Research grant and holds an MRes in Curatorial/Knowledge from Goldsmiths, University of London. He was previously with Google Arts & Culture. He is a Filipino-American based in London.

Matters of Concern is part of Furtherfield’s three-year Citizen Sci-Fi  programme crowdsourcing creative and technological visions of our communities and public spaces, together.

2020 is the year of Love Machines, nurturing living and machine systems for mutual care and respect on earth and beyond. 

Featured Image:
Still from ‘O Peixe (The Fish)’, 2016
Jonathas de Andrade
Courtesy of the artist

A list of recommendations, reflecting the dynamic culture we are part of, straddling the fields of art, technology and social change.

Events, Exhibitions, Festivals and Conferences

Data Dating | Exhibition Wednesday 15 January – Sunday 1 March 2020 | What does it mean to love in the Internet age? How are digital interfaces reshaping our personal relationships? What do new technologies imply for the future of the romantic sphere? How do screens affect our sexual intimacy? Are the new means of connection shifting the old paradigms of adult life? The advent of the Internet and smartphones has brought about a split in the romantic lives of millions of people, who now inhabit both the real world and their very own “phone world” | Artists: Addie Wagenknecht & Pablo Garcia, !Mediengruppe Bitnik, Ashley Madison, Angels at Work in London, VR Hug, Tom Galle, Moises Sanabria, John Yuyi, Antoine Schmitt, Olga Fedorova, Adam Basanta, Jeroen Van Loon, Thomas Israel | Watermans Art Centre, London – https://bit.ly/2unO6ZX

Querying the Archive | Hosted by MayDay Rooms | Thursday, 13 February 2020 | London | An on-going series of workshops around our archival platform leftove.rs, which will look at the different ways we can open up this online collection material and the technical processes between it. We want to think through that kind of strategies, queries and categories will help us navigate something that is both an database and resource of radical history. The first session we will be learning about the platform and mapping the collection by pooling our knowledge of radical histories of dissent to help us think about how we search, input and categories this large collection of material. https://leftove.rs

The Habitat of Time | Curated by Julie Louise Bacon | Arts Catalyst | Thu 20 February 2020 – Sat 14 March 2020 | The project focuses on the way that time as a medium shapes our perception of life, the structure of societies, and the vastness of the physical world. The artworks featured in the exhibition propose a rescaling of human time and expose its deep interrelations with the diversity of the more-than-human realm, moving through the geological, technological, biological and cosmic. In the 21st century, the instability of globalisation, the speed of digital technologies, and the transformation of knowledge are generating rapid shifts in time | Featuring: Eva Nolan, Thomson & Craighead, Robert Andrew, Lucy Bleach, James Geurts, Josh Wodak – https://bit.ly/2uo2Sjv

Pre-histories and Futures of Machine Vision | Friday, 28 February 2020 | V&A, London | How do machines see? From autonomous vehicles to deep fakes, machine vision is changing contemporary life. Join curators, artists and scholars to discuss the impact of AI technologies on the past, present and future of art. Explore early moments in the development of computer art and machine vision, from the mid-1960s onwards in the home of the UK’s most important historic computer art collection. Join contemporary artists, designers and curators considering the aesthetic and political implications of contemporary computer vision and machine learning technologies. Speakers include digital scholars Zabet Patterson (Stony Brook) and Joel McKim (Birkbeck), V&A curators Douglas Dodds and Natalie Kane, and contemporary artists Anna Ridler and Alan Warburton | 10.30 – 17.00 | Hochhauser Auditorium, V&A South Kensington – https://bit.ly/371PYVM

QUANTUM: IN SEARCH OF THE INVISIBLE | From March 5 until May 31, 2020 | An international art exhibition exploring the world of quantum physics, through works created by artists resulting from their encounters with researchers at CERN, Geneva | Featuring ten commissioned artworks by internationally renowned artists, which rethink scientific research and facts to explore states of being and the very possibilities of reality. These works question how much we really know about the world around us, and how we may begin to discover new aspects by taking a different perspective | Brussels, Belgium – https://www.imal.org/en

Three Acres And A Cow | Hosted by Three Acres And A Cow and 3 others | ‘Three Acres And A Cow’ connects the Norman Conquest and Peasants’ Revolt with current issues like Brexit, fracking, the housing crisis and food sovereignty movement via the Enclosures, English Civil War, Irish Land League and Industrial Revolution, drawing a compelling narrative through the radical people’s history of England in folk song, stories and poems. Part TED talk, part history lecture, part folk club sing-a-long, part poetry slam, part storytelling session… Come and share in these tales as they have been shared for generations. Featuring Robin Grey and Rachel Rose Reid | 12 March 2020 – http://threeacresandacow.co.uk

Workshop: Subvertising for the right to housing | March 26, 2020 @ SUPERMARKT BERLIN | With Steal This Poster (Subvertising Collective IT/UK) and others. These workshops show us how subvertising offers a creative way to rewrite the narrative about the housing market in the streets where gentrification operates. Outdoor advertising is the most emblematic form of consumerist propaganda. It privatises sections of public spaces with the purpose to conditioning mass behaviours imposing specific narratives. How can we untangle those narrations? And how can we take over those spaces subtracted from the public realm for private interests? | registrations open soon | sign up for the newsletter – https://bit.ly/2OqppD2

EVICTED BY GREED: Global Finance, Housing & Resistance | Uncovering how ghostly shell companies and real estate speculation evict real people from their homes – and what to do about it | Investigations on how how speculative finance drives the global and local housing crisis, and gathers experts & activists from around the world to share and find  counter-strategies | The Conference, March 27-28, 2020, Studio 1, Kunstquartier Bethanien | Disruption Network Lab – https://bit.ly/2S2SEya

Books, Open Calls, Papers & Publications

Open Call – Science Gallery London | Inviting expressions of interest for projects to become part of the forthcoming AI & Ethics season. Whether your application is art, scientific inquiry, or a combination of these, we are looking to work with individuals and groups who are critically exploring ethical issues around the development and implementation of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly (though not exclusively) within the context of healthcare | Open from 31st January 2020 to 23rd February 2020 – https://bit.ly/2Ut377q

Open Call – URgh! zine #1 on Alternative Art Education | DEADLINE Friday, 21 Feb 2020 | Submissions are open for the first issue of URgh! We welcome contributions that explore and document alternative art education within self-organised, DIY, peer-led art schools and collectives, to extend the existing research and amplify the movement. A new zine on precarious labour dreaming up alternative economies at the coalface of the art educational creative industrial complex. The first issue will be launched on Saturday, 21 March 2020 at the Festival of Alternative Art Education 2020 at  Conway Hall. https://videomole.tv/urgh-zine/

Art Meets Radical Openness 2020 – OPEN CALL: Of Whirlpools and Tornadoes | 20th – 23rd of May 2020 | Deadline: Monday 24.02.2020 | AMRO is a biennial community festival in Linz that explores and discusses new challenges between digital culture, art, everyday life, education, politics and activism. The 2020 edition of the AMRO festival is characterized by reflections upon the “centripetal” and “centrifugal” dynamics of acceleration visible in contemporary society and the ways artistic practice, activism and radical thinking can engage with it – http://radical-openness.org/en

Technological Sovereignty: Democratising Technology and Innovation Green Paper | Within DiEM25, by crowdsourcing collective knowledge have identified three key ways to achieve Technological Sovereignty. They try to define the issues, and provide short, medium and long term solutions, based on two processes: Regulation and Renewal. And we need to establish the conditions for social innovation and democratic societal transformation – https://internal.diem25.org/en/vote/205/public

Culture, Technology and the Image: Techniques of Engaging with Visual Culture | Edited by Jeremy Pilcher | Culture, Technology and the Image explores the technologies deployed when images are archived, accessed and distributed. The chapters discuss the ways in which habits and techniques used in learning and communicating knowledge about images are affected by technological developments. The volume discusses a wide range of issues, including access and participation; research, pedagogy and teaching; curation and documentation; circulation and re-use; and conservation and preservation | Intellectbooks – https://bit.ly/2v9CFoF

Hacking Diversity: The Politics of Inclusion in Open Technology Cultures | By Christina Dunbar-Hester | Hacking, as a mode of technical and cultural production, is commonly celebrated for its extraordinary freedoms of creation and circulation. Yet surprisingly few women participate in it: rates of involvement by technologically skilled women are drastically lower in hacking communities than in industry and academia. Hacking Diversity investigates the activists engaged in free and open-source software to understand why, despite their efforts, they fail to achieve the diversity that their ideals support | Prince University Press – https://bit.ly/2SlvCBl

Call for Papers – Media Theory, Media Fiction, and Infrastructures Beyond the Earth | Today, established space agencies are struggling with national funding, and numerous countries are starting ambitious space programs, and private companies and individuals are building innovative space plans and technologies. The current socio-political configuration offers thinkers and practitioners new opportunities by which to intervene in how we envision and inhabit the cosmos. Media Theory, Media Fiction, and Infrastructures Beyond the Earth is a two-day workshop May 7-8, 2020 at University of Toronto, Mississauga that will investigate space exploration and inhabitation from the point of view of media studies | University of Toronto Mississauga, USA – https://bit.ly/383z623

Call for proposals – (Infra)Structures | 4 – 5 June 2020 | Centre for Postdigital Cultures annual conference | Coventry University, UK | Proposals for its 3rd annual conference on infrastructures | This conference takes interest in infrastructures as an invisible system of meaning-making and a mode of structuring people and knowledge, in the institutional contexts and conditions of this structuring, as well as in possible models of intervening in these very structures. By doing so, we hope to interrogate the potential of making infrastructure visible – remarkable – as a means of speaking to power. We are interested in exploring what new ways of understanding, developing, reconfiguring or hacking infrastructures might be possible if we focus on their radical potential – https://bit.ly/31rd1rC

Articles, Interviews, Presentations, videos

Poetry v. the Body Politic: writing a political movement | Excerpts from a dialogue on the relationship between poetry and politics in Iran today, between Poetry International Archives Iran editor Abol Froushan and Ali Abdolrezaei, a major Iranian poet and leader of a grassroots political movement that has been spreading in Iran since the uprising of January 2018, when the multimedia Colleges of Persian Poetry and of Fiction became a political movement. What incubated as a literary movement calling for democracy of the text and literary styles transformed into a movement for democracy and freedom from the Islamic Republic and its political and economic stranglehold on Iranians – https://bit.ly/2Sn6bPJ

Interview with Helen Knowles by Regine Debatty | Trickle Down, A New Vertical Sovereignty | A prison in Liverpool, an Ethereal Summit in New York city, a prestigious Russian art auction at Sotheby’s, a market in North Manchester. These places and the communities that spend time there have little in common. What is more, they sit at opposite ends of the spectrum of financial power. That’s exactly what appealed to Helen Knowles. Helen Knowles is currently exhibiting the result of this long research at Arebyte Gallery in London – https://bit.ly/2S16mkR

Rowland Atkinson reviews Thomas Piketty’s eagerly awaited new book Capital and ideology in the city | “In all nations and at all times societies require some system or series of defences of the disparities that exist within them. Different kinds of societies have achieved this in their own distinctive ways and in fact much of this more than 1,000 page work delves into the long history of such arrangements. Piketty calls these narratives and systems of thinking inequality regimes. There is power at work in the narratives, ideas and legitimising frameworks deployed by elites and which are shared more broadly within society as a whole.” https://bit.ly/2UtAE1j

OBIETTIVO BOLOGNA REPORTAGE BY ARIANNA FORTE | The itinerant tour of the project DATAPOIESIS runs into Bologna, historically one of the most active and aware Italian cities in urban policies. Datapoiesis in the city, took place from the 24 to 26 of January 2020, coordinated by Singlossa with local partner MaisonVentidue. Obiettivo, was the first datapoietic artwork, and trigger for reflecting on a new kind of processes capable of bringing awareness and social activation using public data in a conscious way and to face complex global phenomena such as poverty from different points of view – https://datapoiesis.com/home/?p=2348

Image from: Data Dating, Exhibition. Wednesday 15 January – Sunday 1 March 2020 at Watermans Art Centre, London.

The FurtherList Archives
https://www.furtherfield.org/the-furtherlist-archives/

A cultural discussion podcast grounded in news from where we are

We may be confined to our homes by the Coronavirus emergency but we still have access to thriving networked cultures from around the world.  ‘News From Where We Are’ is hosted by Furtherfield’s Marc Garrett, a conversation with many voices from the ground. The podcast explores how the collaborative-imaginative fieldwork of artists, techies and activists is informing how we organise, imagine and build solidarity, good health and post-capitalist realities. Working together and supporting others to do the same.

25 years of Radical Friendship at Furtherfield

In 2021 we celebrate 25 years of radical friendship at Furtherfield with conversations with some of the fascinating people with whom we have worked and collaborated. We talk about how they are changing culture, their lives, and the lives of their communities.

Quarterly on Soundcloud.
https://soundcloud.com/furtherfield

Featured Image:
Illustration by Lina Theodorou, for ‘Bad Shibe‘ by Rhea Myers
Published by Furtherfield and Torque editions, 2017

For its closing community gathering of the year, the Disruption Network Lab organised a conference to extend and connect its 2019 programme ‘The Art of Exposing Injustice’ – with social and cultural initiatives, fostering direct participation and enhancing engagement around the topics discussed throughout the year. Transparency International Deutschland, Syrian Archive, and Radical Networks are some of the organisations and communities that have taken part on DNL activities and were directly involved in this conference on November the 30^th, entitled ‘Activation: Collective Strategies to Expose Injustice’ on anti-corruption, algorithmic discrimination, systems of power, and injustice – a culmination of the meet-up programme that ran parallel to the three conferences of 2019.

The day opened with the talk ‘Untangling Complexity: Working on Anti-Corruption from the International to the Local Level,’ a conversation with Max Heywood, global outreach and advocacy coordinator for Transparency International, and Stephan Ohme, lawyer and financial expert from Transparency International Deutschland.

In the conference ‘Dark Havens: Confronting Hidden Money & Power’ (April 2019) – DNL focused its work on offshore financial systems and global networks of international corruption involving not only secretive tax havens, but also financial institutions, systems of law, governments and corporations. On the occasion, DNL hosted discussions about the Panama Papers and other relevant leaks that exposed hundreds of cases involving tax evasion, through offshore regimes. With the contribution of whistleblowers and people involved in investigations, the panels unearthed how EU institutions turn a blind eye to billions of Euros worth of wealth that disappears, not always out of sight of local tax authorities, and on how – despite, the global outrage caused by investigations and leaks – the practice of billionaires and corporations stashing their cash in tax havens is still very common.

Introducing the talk ‘Untangling Complexity,’ Disruption Network community director Lieke Ploeger asked the two members of Transparency International and its local chapter Transparency International Deutschland to touch base after a year-long cooperation with the Lab, in which they have been substantiating how, in order to expose and defeat corruption, it is necessary to make complexity transparent and simple. With chapters in more than 100 countries and an international secretariat in Berlin, Transparency International works on anti-corruption at an international and local level through a participated global activity, which is the only effective way to untangle the complexity of the hidden mechanisms of international tax evasion and corruption.

Such crimes are very difficult to detect and, as Heywood explained, transparency is too often interpreted as simple availability of documents and information. It requires instead a higher degree of participation since documents and information must be made comprehensible, singularly and in their connections. In many cases, corruption and illegal financial activities are shielded behind technicalities and solid legal bases that make them hard to be uncovered. Within complicated administrative structures, among millions of documents and terabytes of files, an investigator is asked to find evidence of wrongdoings, corruption, or tax evasion. Most of the work is about the capability to put dots together, managing to combine data and metadata to define a hidden structure of power and corruption. Like in a big puzzle, all pieces are connected. But those pieces are often so many, that just a collective effort can allow scrutiny. That is why a law that allows transparency in Berlin, on estate properties and private funds, for example, might be able to help in a case of corruption somewhere else in the world. Exactly like in the financial systems, also in anti-corruption, nothing is just local and the cooperation of more actors is essential to achieve results.

The recent case of the Country-by-Country Reporting shows the situation in Europe. It was an initiative proposed in the ‘Action Plan for Fair and Efficient Corporate Taxation‘  by the European Commission in 2015. It aimed at amending the existing legislation to require multinational companies to publicly disclose their income tax in each EU member state they work in. Not many details are supposed to be disclosed and the proposal is limited only to companies with a turnover of at least €750 million, to know how much profit they generate and how much tax they pay in each of the 28 countries. However, many are still reluctant to agree, especially those favouring the profit-shifting within the EU. Some, including Germany, worry that revealing companies’ tax and profit information publicly will give a competitive advantage to companies outside Europe that don’t have to report such information. Twelve countries voted against the new rules, all member states with low-tax environments helping to shelter the profits of the world’s biggest companies. Luxembourg is one of them. According to the International Monetary Fund – through its 600,000 citizens – the country hosts as much foreign direct investment as the USA, raising the suspicion that most of this flow goes to “empty corporate shells” designed to reduce tax liabilities in other EU countries.

Moreover, in every EU country, there are voices from the industrial establishment against this proposal. In Germany, the Foundation of Family Businesses, which despite its name guarantees the interests of big companies, as Ohme remarked, claims that enterprises are already subject to increasingly stronger social control through the continuously growing number of disclosure requirements. It complains about what is considered the negative consequences of public Country-by-Country Reporting for their businesses, stating that member states should deny their consent as it would considerably damage companies’ competitiveness, and turn the EU into a nanny state. But, apart from the expectations and the lobbying activities of the industrial élite, European citizens want multinational corporations to pay fair taxes on EU soil where the money is generated. The current fiscal regimes increase disparities, allow profit-shifting and bank secrecy. The result is that most of the fiscal burden push against less mobile tax-payers, retirees, employees, and consumers, whilst corporations and billionaires get away with their misconducts. 

Transparency International encourages citizens all over the globe to carry on asking for accountability and improvements in their financial and fiscal systems without giving up. In 1997, the German government made bribes paid to foreign officials by German companies tax-deductible, and until February 1999 German companies were allowed to bribe in order to do business across the border, which was common practice, particularly in Asia and Latin America since at least the early 70s. But things have changed. Ohme is aware of the many daily scandals related to corruption and tax evasion: for this reason he considers the work of Transparency International necessary. However, he invited his audience not to describe it as a radical organisation, but as an independent one that operates on the basis of research and objective investigations. 

In the last months of 2019 in Germany, the so-called Cum-Ex scandal caught the attention of international news outlets as investigators discovered a trading scheme exploiting a tax loophole on dividend payments within the German tax code. Authorities allege bankers helped investors reap billions of euros in illegitimate tax refunds, as Cum-Ex deals involved a trader borrowing a block of shares to bet against them, and then selling them on to another investor. In the end, parties on both sides of the trade could claim a refund of withholding taxes paid on the dividend, even though prosecutors contend that only a single rebate was actually due. The loophole was closed in 2012, but investigators think that in the meantime companies like Freshfields advised many banks and other participants in the financial markets to illegally profit from it. 

As both Heywood and Ohme stressed, we need measures that guarantee open access to relevant information, such as the beneficial owners of assets which are held by entities, and arrangements like shell companies and trusts – that is to say, the info about individuals who ultimately control or profit from a company or estate. Experts indicate that registers of beneficial owners help authorities prosecute criminals, recover stolen assets, and deter new ones; they make it harder to hide connections to illicit flows of capital out of a national budget. 

Referring to the case of the last package of measures regarding money laundering and financial transparency, under approval by the German parliament, Ohme showed a shy appreciation for the improvements, as real estate agents, gold merchants, and auction houses will be subject to tighter regulations in the future. Lawmakers complained that the US embassy and Apple tried to quash part of these new rules and that during the parliamentary debate they sought to intervene with the Chancellery to prevent a section of the law from being adopted. The attempt was related to a regulation which forces digital platforms to open their interfaces for payment services and apps, such as the payment platform ApplePay, but it did not land. Apple’s behaviour is a sign of the continuous interferences of the interests at stake when these topics are discussed.

At the end of the first talk, DNL hosted a screening of the documentary ‘Pink Hair Whistleblower’ by Marc Silver. It is an interview with Christopher Wylie, who worked for the British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, who revealed how it was built as a system that could profile individual US voters in 2014, to target them with personalised political advertisements and influence the results of the elections. At the time, the company was owned by the hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer and headed by Donald Trump’s key advisor, and architect of a far-right network of political influence, Steve Bannon.

The DNL discussed this subject widely within the conference ‘Hate News: Manipulators, Trolls & Influencers’ (May 2018), trying to define the ways of pervasive, hyper-individualized, corporate-based, and illegal harvesting of personal data – at times developed in partnership with governments – through smartphones, computers, virtual assistants, social media, and online platforms, which could inform almost every aspect of social and political interactions.

With the overall theme ‘AI Traps: Automating Discrimination‘ (June 2019), DNL sought to define how artificial intelligence and algorithms reinforce prejudices and biases in society. These same issues were raised in the Activation conference, in the talk ‘An Autopsy of Online Love, Labour, Surveillance and Electricity/Energy.’ Joana Moll, artist and researcher, in conversation with DNL founder Tatiana Bazzichelli, presented her latest projects ’The Dating Brokers’ and ‘The Hidden Life of an Amazon User,’ on the hidden side of IT-interface and data harvesting.

The artist’s work moves from the challenges of the so-called networked society to a critique of social and economic practices of exploitation, which focuses on what stands behind the interface of technology and IT services, giving a visual representation of what is hidden. The fact that users do not see what happens behind the online services they use has weakened the ability that individuals and collectives have to define and protect their privacy and self-determination, getting stuck in traps built to get the best out of their conscious or unconscious contribution. Moll explains that, although most people’s daily transactions are carried out through electronic devices, we know very little of the activities that come with and beyond the interface we see and interact with. We do not know how the machine is built, and we are mostly not in control of its activities.

Her project ‘The Dating Brokers’ focuses on the current practices in the global online dating ecosystem, which are crucial to its business model but mostly opaque to its users. In 2017, Moll purchased 1 million online dating profiles from the website USDate, a US company that buys and sells profiles from all over the world. For €136, she obtained almost 5 million pictures, usernames, email addresses, details about gender, age, nationality, and personal information such as sexual orientation, private interests, profession, physical characteristics, and personality. Analysing few profiles and looking for matches online, the artist was able to define a vast network of companies and dating platforms capitalising on private information without the consent of their users. The project is a warning about the dangers of placing blind faith in big companies and raises alarming ethical and legal questions which urgently need to be addressed, as dating profiles contain intimate information on users and the exploitation and misuse of this data can have dramatic effects on their lives. 

With the ongoing project ‘The Hidden Life of an Amazon User,’ Moll attempts to define the hidden side of interfaces. The artist documented what happens in the background during a simple order on the platform Amazon. Purchasing the book ‘The Life, Lessons & Rules for Success’ by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos her computer was loaded with so many scripts and requests, that she could trace almost 9,000 pages of lines of code as a result of the order and more than 87 megabytes of data running in the background of the interface. A large part of the scripts are JavaScript files, that can theoretically be employed to collect information, but it is not possible to have any idea of what each of these commands meant.  

With this project, Moll describes the hidden aspects of a business model built on the monitoring and profiling of customers that encourages them to share more details, spend more time online, and make more purchases. Amazon and many other companies aggressively exploit their users as a core part of their marketing activity. Whilst buying something, users provide clicks and data for free and guarantee free labour, whose energy costs are not on the companies’ bills. Customers navigate through the user interface, as content and windows constantly load into the browser to enable interactions and record user’s activities. Every single click is tracked and monetized by Amazon, and the company can freely exploit external free resources, making a profit out of them.

The artist warns that these hidden activities of surveillance and profiling are constantly contributing to the release of CO₂. This due to fact that a massive amount of energy is required to load the scripts on the users’ machine. Moll followed just the basic steps necessary to get to the end of the online order and buy the book. More clicks could obviously generate much more background activity. A further environmental cost that customers of these platforms cannot decide to stop. This aspect shall be considered for its broader and long term implications too. Scientists predict that by 2025 the information and communications technology sector might use 20 per cent of all the world’s electricity, and consequently cause up to 5.5 per cent of global carbon emissions.

Moll concluded by saying we can hope that more and more individuals will decide to avoid certain online services and live in a more sustainable way. But, trends show how a vast majority of people using these platforms and online services, are harmful, because of their hidden mechanisms, affecting people’s lives, causing environmental and socio-economic consequences. Moll suggested that these topics should be approached at the community level to find political solutions and countermeasures.

The 17th conference of the Disruption Network Lab, ‘Citizens of Evidence’ (September 2019,) was meant to explore the investigative impact of grassroots communities and citizens engaged to expose injustice, corruption, and power asymmetries. Citizen investigations use publicly available data and sources to autonomously verify facts. More and more often ordinary people and journalists work together to provide a counter-narrative to the deliberate disinformation spread by news outlets of political influence, corporations, and dark money think-tanks. In this Activation conference, in a talk moderated by Nada Bakr, the DNL project and community manager, Hadi Al Khatib, founder and Director of ’The Syrian Archive’, and artist and filmmaker Jasmina Metwaly, altogether focused on the role of open archives in the collaborative production of social justice.

The Panel ‘Archives of Evidence: Archives as Collective Memory and Source of Evidence’ opened with Jasmina Metwaly, member of Mosireen, a media activist collective that came together to document and spread images of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. During and after the revolution, the group produced and published over 250 videos online, focusing on street politics, state violence, and labour rights; reaching millions of viewers on YouTube and other platforms. Mosireen, who in Arabic recalls a pun of the words “Egypt” and “Determination” which could be translated as “we are determined,” has been working since its birth on collective strategies to allow participation and channel the energies and pulses of the 2011 protesters into a constructive discourse necessary to keep on fighting. The Mosireen activists organised street screenings, educational workshops, production facilities, and campaigns to raise awareness on the importance of archives in the collaborative production of social justice. 

In January 2011, the wind of the Tunisian Revolution reached Egyptians, who gathered in the streets to overthrow the dictatorial system. In the central Tahrir Square in Cairo, for more than three weeks, people had been occupying public spaces in a determined and peaceful protest to get social and political change in the sense of democracy and human rights enhancement. 

For 5 years, since 2013, the collective has put together the platform ‘858: An Archive of Resistance’ – an archive containing 858 hours of video material from 2011, where footage is collected, annotated, and cross-indexed to be consulted. It was released on 16th January 2018, seven years after the Egyptian protests began. The material is time-stamped and published without linear narrative, and it is hosted on Pandora, an open-source tool accessible to everybody. 

The documentation gives a vivid representation of the events. There are historical moments recorded at the same time from different perspectives by dozens of different cameras; there are videos of people expressing their hopes and dreams whilst occupying the square or demonstrating; there is footage of human rights violations and video sequences of military attacks on demonstrators. 

In the last six years, the narrative about the 2011 Egyptian revolution has been polluted by revisionisms, mostly propaganda for the government and other parties for the purposes of appropriation. In the meantime, Mosireen was working on the original videos from the revolution, conscious of the increasing urgency of such a task. Memory is subversive and can become a tool of resistance, as the archive preserves the voices of those who were on the streets animating those historical days. 

Thousands of different points of views united compose a collection of visual evidence that can play a role in preserving a memory of events. The archive is studied inside universities and several videos have been used for research on the types of weapons used by the military and the police. But what is important is that people who took part in the revolution are thankful for its existence. The archive appears as one of the available strategies to preserve people’s own narratives of the revolution and its memories, making it impermeable to manipulations. In those days and in the following months, Egypt’s public spaces were places of political ferment, cultural vitality, and action for citizens and activists. The masses were filled with creativity and rebellion. But that identity is at risk to disappear. That kind of participation and of filming is not possible anymore; public spaces are besieged. The archive cannot be just about preserving and inspiring. The collective is now looking for more videos and is determined to carry on its work of providing a counter-narrative on Egyptian domestic and international affairs, despite tightened surveillance, censorship, and hundreds of websites blocked by the government.

There are many initiatives aiming to resist forgetting facts and silencing independent voices. In 2019, the Disruption Network Lab worked on this with Hadi Al Khatib, founder and director of ‘The Syrian Archive,’ who intervened in this panel within the Activation conference. Since 2011, Al Khatib has been working on collecting, verifying, and investigating citizen-generated data as evidence of human rights violations committed by all sides in the Syrian conflict. The Syrian Archive is an open-source platform that collects, curates, and verifies visual documentation of human rights violations in Syria – preserving data as a digital memory. The archive is a means to establish a verified database of facts and represents a tool to collect evidence and objective information to put an order within the ecosystem of misinformation and the injustices of the Syrian conflict. It also includes a database of metadata information to contextualise videos, audios, pictures, and documents.

Such a project can play a central role in defining responsibilities, violations, and misconducts, and could contribute to eventual post-conflict juridical processes since the archive’s structure and methodology is supposed to meet international standards. The Syrian conflict is a bloody reality involving international actors and interests which is far from being over. International reports in 2019 indicate at least 871 attacks on vital civilian facilities with the deaths of 3,364 civilians, where one in four were children.

The platform makes sure that journalists and lawyers are able to use the verified data for their investigations and criminal case building. The work on the videos is based on meticulous attention to details, and comparisons with official sources and publicly available materials such as photos, footage, and press releases disseminated online. 

The Syrian activist and archivist explained that a lot of important documents could be found on external platforms, like YouTube, that censor and erase content using AI under pressures to remove “extremist content,” purging vital human rights evidence. Social media has been recently criticized for acting too slowly when killers live-stream mass shootings, or when they allow extremist propaganda within their platforms. 

DNL already focused on the consequences of automated removal, which in 2017 deleted 10 per cent of the archives documenting violence in Syria, as artificial intelligence detects and removes content – but an automated filter can’t tell the difference between ISIS propaganda and a video documenting government atrocities. The Google-owned company has already erased 200,000 videos with documental and historical relevance. In countries at war, the evidence captured on smartphones can provide a path to justice, but AI systems often mark them as inadequate violent content which consequently erases them. 

Al Khatib launched a campaign to warn platforms to fix and improve their content moderation systems used to police extremist content, and to consider when they define their measures to fight misinformation and crimes, aspects like the preservation of the common memory on relevant events. Twitter, for example, has just announced a plan to remove accounts which have been inactive for six months or longer. As Al Khatib explains, this could result in a significant loss to the memory of the Syrian conflict and of other war zones, and cause the loss of evidence that could be used in justice and accountability processes. There are users who have died, are detained, or have lost access to their accounts on which they used to share relevant documents and testimonies. 

In the last year, the Syrian Archive platform was replicated for Yemen and Sudan to support human rights advocates and citizen journalists in their efforts to document human rights violations, developing new tools to increase the quality of political activism, future prosecutions, human rights reporting and research. In addition to this, the Syrian Archive often organises workshops to present its research and analyses, such as the one in October within the Disruption Network Lab community programme.

The DNL often focuses on how new technologies can advance or restrict human rights, sometimes offering both possibilities at once. For example, free open technologies can significantly enhance freedom of expression by opening up communication options; they can assist vulnerable groups by enabling new ways of documenting and communicating human rights abuses. At the same time, hate speech can be more readily disseminated, technologies for surveillance purposes are employed without appropriate safeguards and impinge unreasonably on the privacy of individuals; infrastructures and online platforms can be controlled to chase and discredit minorities and free speakers. The last panel discussion closing the conference was entitled ‘Algorithmic Bias: AI Traps and Possible Escapes’, moderated by Ruth Catlow, who took the floor to introduce the two speakers and asked them to debate effective ways to define this issue and discuss possible solutions.

Ruth Catlow is co-founder and co-artistic director of Furtherfield, an art gallery in London’s Finsbury Park – home for artworks, labs, and debates based on playful collaborative art research experiences, always across distances and differences. Furtherfield diversifies the people involved in shaping emerging technologies through an arts-led approach, always looking at ways to disrupt network power of technology and culture, to engage with the urgent debates of our time and make these debates accessible, open, and participated. One of its latest projects focused on algorithmic food justice, environmental degradation, and species decline. Exploring how new algorithmic technologies could be used to create a fairer and more sustainable food system, Furtherfield worked on solutions in which culture comes before structures, and human organisation and human needs – or the needs of other living beings and living systems – are at the heart of design for technological systems.

As Catlow recalled, in the conference ‘AI Traps: Automating Discrimination’ (June 2019), the Disruption Network Lab focused on the possible countermeasures to the AI-informed decision-making potential for racial bias and reinforced through AI decision-making tools. It was an inspiring and stimulating event on inclusion, education, and diversity in tech, highlighting how algorithms are not neutral and unbiased. On the contrary, they often reflect, reinforce, and automate the current and historical biases and inequalities of society, such as social, racial, and gender prejudices. The panel within the Activation conference framed these issues in the context of the work by the speakers, Caroline Sinders and Sarah Grant.

Sinders is a machine learning design researcher and artist. In her work, she focuses on the intersections of natural language processing, artificial intelligence, abuse, online harassment, and politics in digital and conversational spaces. She presented her last study on the Intersectional Feminist AI, focusing on labour and automated computer operations.

Quoting Hyman (2017), Sinders argued that the world is going through what some are calling a Second Machine Age, in which the re-organisation of people matters as much as, if not more than, the new machines. Employees receiving a regular wage or salary have begun to disappear, replaced by independent contractors and freelancers; remuneration is calculated on the basis of time worked, output, or piecework, and paid to employees for hours worked. Labour and social rights conquered with hard, bloody fights in the last two centuries seem to be irrelevant. More and more tasks are operated through AI, which plays a big role in the revenues of big corporations. But still, machine abilities are possible just with the fundamental contribution of human work.

Sinders begins her analyses considering that human labour has become hidden inside of automation, but is still integral to that. The training of machines is a process in which human hands touch almost every part of the pipeline, making decisions. However, people who train data models are underpaid and unseen inside of this process. As Thomas Thwaites’ toaster project, a critical design project in which the artist built a commercial toaster from scratch – melting iron and building circuits and creating a new plastic shell – Sinders analyses the Artificial Intelligence economy under the lens of feminist, intersectionalism, to define how and to which extent it is possible to create an AI that respects in all its steps the principles of non-exploitation, non-bias, and non-discrimination. 

Her research considers the ‘Mechanical Turks’ model, in which machines masquerade as a fully automated robot but are operated by a human. Mechanical Turk is actually a platform run by Amazon, where people execute computer-like tasks for a few cents, synonymous with low-paid digital piecework. A recent research analysed nearly 4 million tasks on Mechanical Turk performed by almost 3,000 workers found that those workers earned a median wage of about $2 an hour, whilst only 4% of workers on Mechanical Turk earned more than $7,25 an hour. Since 2005 this platform has flourished. Mechanical Turks are used to train AI systems online. Even though it is mostly systematised factory jobs, this labour falls under the gig economy, so that people employed as Mechanical Turks are considered gig workers, who have no paid breaks, holidays, and guaranteed minimum wage. 

Sinder concluded that an ethical, equitable, and feminist environment is not achievable within a process based on the competition among slave labourers that discourages unions, pays a few cents per repetitive task and creates nameless and hidden labour. Such a process shall be thoughtful and critical in order to guarantee the basis for equity; it must be open to feedback and interpretation, created for communities and as a reflection of those communities. To create a feminist AI, it is necessary to define labour, data collection, and data training systems, not just by asking how the algorithm was made, but investigating and questioning them from an ethical standpoint, for all steps of the pipeline.

In her talk Grant, founder of Radical Networks, a community event and art festival for critical investigations and creative experiments around networking technology, described the three main planes online users interact with, where injustices and disenfranchisement can occur.

The first one is the control plane, which refers to internet protocols. It is the plumbing, the infrastructure. The protocol is basically a set of rules which governs how two devices communicate with each other. It is not just a technical aspect, because a protocol is a political action which basically involves exerting control over a group of people. It can also mean making decisions for the benefit of a specific group of people, so the question is our protocols but our protocols political. 

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is an open standards organisation, which develops and promotes voluntary Internet standards, in particular, the standards that comprise the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP). It has no formal membership roster and all participants and managers are volunteers, though their activity within the organisation is often funded by their employers or sponsors. The IETF was initially supported by the US government, and since 1993 has been operating as a standards-development function under the international membership-based non-profit organisation Internet Society. The IETF is controlled by the Internet and Engineering Steering Group (IESG), a body that provides final technical review of the Internet standards and manages the day-to-day activity of the IETF, setting the standards and best practices for how to develop protocols. It receives appeals of the decisions of the working groups and makes the decision to progress documents in the standards track. As Grant explained, many of its members are currently employed for major corporations such as Google, Nokia, Cisco, Mozilla. Though they serve as individuals, this issues a conflict of interests and mines independence and autonomy. The founder of Radical Networks is pessimistic about the capability of for-profit companies to be trusted on these aspects.

The second plane is the user plane, where we find the users’ experience and the interface. Here two aspects come into play: the UX design (user experience design), and the UI (user interface design). UX is the presumed interaction model which defines the process a person will experience when using a product or a website, while the UI is the actual interface, the buttons, and different fields we see online. UX and UI are supposed to serve the end-user, but it is often not like this. The interface is actually optimized for getting users to act online in ways which are not in their best interest; the internet is full of so-called dark patterns designed to mislead or trick users to do things that they might not want. 

These dark patterns are part of the weaponised design dominating the web, which wilfully allows for harm of users and is implemented by designers who are not aware of or concerned about the politics of digital infrastructure, often considering their work to be apolitical and just technical. In this sense, they think they can keep design for designers only, shutting out all the other components that constitute society and this is itself a political choice. Moreover, when we consider the relation between technology and aspects like privacy, self-determination, and freedom of expression we need to think of the international human rights framework, which was built to ensure that – as society changes – the fundamental dignity of individuals remain essential. In time, the framework has demonstrated to be plastically adaptable to changing external events and we are now asked to apply the existing standards to address the technological challenges that confront us. However, it is up to individual developers to decide how to implement protocols and software, for example, considering human rights standards by design, and such choices have a political connotation. 

The third level is the access plane which is what controls how users actually get online. Here, Grant used Project loon as an example to describe the importance of owning the infrastructure. Project loon by Google is an activity of the Loon LLC, an Alphabet subsidiary working on providing Internet access to rural and remote areas, bringing connectivity and coverage after natural disasters with internet-beaming balloons. As the panellist explained, it is an altruistic gesture for vulnerable populations, but companies like Google and Facebook respond to the logic of profit and we know that controlling the connectivity of large groups of populations provide power and opportunities to make a profit. Corporations with data and profilisation at the core of their business models have come to dominate the markets; many see with suspicion the desire of big companies to provide Internet to those four billions of people that at the moment are not online.

As Catlow warned, we are running the risk that the Internet becomes equal to Facebook and Google. Whilst we need communities able to develop new skills and build infrastructures that are autonomous, like the wireless mesh networks that are designed so that small devices called ‘nodes’ – commonly placed on top of buildings or in windows – can send and receive data and a WIFI signal to one another without an Internet connection. The largest and oldest wireless mesh network is the Athens Wireless Metropolitan Network, or A.W.M.N., in Greece, but we also have other successful examples in Barcelona (Guifi.net) and Berlin (Freifunk Berlin). The goal is not just counterbalancing superpowers of telecommunications and corporations, but building consciousness, participation, and tools of resistance too. 

The Activation conference gathered in the Berliner Künstlerhaus Bethanien, the community around the Disruption Network Lab, to share collective approaches and tools for activating social, political, and cultural change. It was a moment to meet collectives and individuals working on alternative ways of intervening in the social dynamics and discover ways to connect networks and activities to disrupt systems of control and injustice. Curated by Lieke Ploeger and Nada Bakr, this conference developed a shared vision grounded firmly in the belief that by embracing participation and supporting the independent work of open platforms as a tool to foster participation, social, economic, cultural, and environmental transparency, citizens around the world have enormous potential to implement justice and political change, to ensure inclusive, more sustainable and equitable societies, and more opportunities for all. To achieve this, it is necessary to strengthen the many existing initiatives within international networks, enlarging the cooperation of collectives and realities engaged on these challenges, to share experiences and good practices.

Information about the 18th Disruption Network Lab Conference, its speakers, and topics are available online:

https://www.disruptionlab.org/activation

To follow the Disruption Network Lab, sign up for its newsletter and get information about conferences, ongoing research, and latest projects. The next event is planned for March 2020. 

The Disruption Network Lab is also on Twitter and Facebook.

All images courtesy of Disruption Network Lab

Curated by Sarah Cook together with the Director of Somerset House, Jonathan Reekie.

Economy has re-invented time. Development of industrialism and accompanying its advancements, for example, the invention of the railroad, forced standardisation of time. During 1700-1900 this invention increased methods of moving goods, new technologies and large scale investment in the UK’s countries infra-structure (communications network). The result was a complex transport system including roads, rail, canals and the London Underground.[1] Without socio-economic time discipline, it would have been impossible to progress into modernity. Similarly, capitalism and all its products which are well-known to us today, could not have functioned without the disruption of humans’ natural sleep cycle. The artists in the 24/7 exhibition at Somerset House explore the ways of responding, coping with and resisting the capitalist mechanisms of shrinking and controlling our sense of time.

The main focus in 24/7 are the “non-stop processes” of our contemporary culture, and it recognises sleep as pretty much the only time we can unplug from technology, even this time is becoming scarcer and scarcer. The different sections in the show are inspired by Jonathan Crary’s book 24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep. The show is in dialogue with the author’s observations of capitalism’s influence on our everyday lives, creating illusions of timelessness, disorientation and relentless pursuits of capturing, monetising and consuming.

In Marcus Coates’ Self Portrait as Time (2016), the artist’s finger follows the second hand on his wristwatch, creating the illusion of him actually moving it. The work evolves in the space and is a looped video, but also works as a clock, counting time as it passes and constantly reminding the visitors and staff about it. Admittedly, the artistic process at times felt like a trance, and Coates kept loosing the sense of boundaries between himself and the clock.

Benjamin Grosser’s Order of Magnitude (2019), a film containing excerpts of Mark Zuckerberg’s interviews, covering the earliest days of Facebook in 2004 up to Zuckerberg’s appearances before the US Congress in 2018, these recordings reveal what’s changed and what hasn’t changed about the way he speaks and what he says. The film shows him boasting the enormity of Facebook, where the edits present us with him repetitively announcing “more, more, more, growth, more than a billion, much bigger, another billion, more than a hundred billion, more efficient, growing, even more, growing by 50%, billion, more billions, many many more”. 

Many have become disillusioned with Silicon Valley and its technology based corporations, and the systems and platforms, which they have co-created at the expense of our privacy. The problem is, we are the silent workforce that these companies feed on. By giving away raw data for analysis and material extraction, we fuel the machine of surveillance capitalism. Unsurprisingly, this is reflected by a significant portion of artworks in the exhibition, which are concerned with what the contemporary meaning of labour is now. 

As we enter the age of acceleration and automation, much of our labour is done with the help of machines. As this happens more we will need to keep re-evaluating our position in the process. On the one hand, 24/7 seems to portray humans as slaves to the machines, while our lifestyles are twisted, over full, and packed with too much stuff. Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos presents us with her sculptures of various configurations of empty hands, the fingers arranged to show them presumably texting, holding a phone and sliding up the screen. (Fifteen Pairs of Mouths, 2016-19).

Then we have Tega Brain’s, Unfit Bits (2015), pointing to constant connectedness; relentlessly moving metronomes stimulating smartwatches for those whose insurance forces them to rely on the health and physical performance data, and then Jeremy Bentham’s famous 19th century drawings of the Panopticon.

Many of the artworks in the exhibition work to debunk the myth of immaterial labour. For instance, this is poetically illustrated by Alan Warbuton’s Dust Bunny (2015), a sculpture comprised of finely milled angora-like dust harvested from the inside of ten 3D animation workstations at visual effects studio Mainframe. The volume of dust here represents an estimated 35,000 hours, or 4 years, of constant rendering and processing.

The distressing nature of social media is shown through the lens of architecture rationalising human relations in Pierre Huyghe’s The House Project (2001). The film shows computer-generated high-rise blocks with window lights blinking in the rhythm of the electronic soundtrack by Finnish techno duo Pan Sonic and French sound artist Cédric Pigot. As the track progresses, the beat becomes heavier, faster and the lights begin to run up and down the stairs, across all floors. The two apartment blocks become musical instruments with flashing diodes, generating an eerie and creepy soundtrack.

Among this horde of artworks, there are some which allow space for contemplation. Finnish artist Nastja Säde Rönkkö, one of the Somerset House Studios’ residents, spent 6 months living and working in London without using Internet. Her letters, souvenirs and received gifts are displayed in a glass cabinet, alongside the film documenting her experiences of moving around the city and reflections on the difficulties she had encountered when she refused to use and benefit from the web. In Catherine Richards’ Shroud Chrysalis I (2000), the visitors are invited to be wrapped in a copper blanket by the gallery attendants, and savor time off technology, as the blanket blocks out electromagnetic signals emitted by mobile devices.

The show proposes a retreat and asks us to contemplate the world’s speed and our disconnectedness from a sense of time. At the same time, it overwhelms the space with an abundant amount of artworks, with over 50 beautiful and innovative artworks on display. And, while this diversity is one of the exhibition’s biggest strengths and should be applauded, it is also a weakness. It involved much shifting about and squeezing between displays, and tireless engagement. One’s experience of this ranged from disinterest to awe, as well as disorientation.

The exhibition’s theme is about time. It literally demands a fair chunk of time forcing the visitor to slow down and re-evaluate experiences and perceptions of what time means to us when its so deeply a part of the systems that are accelerating, alongside capitalist means. This big show offers us no way out of the contemporary trappings of capitalism and its intertwined, connections with time. But, it has opened up a space where we can consider it in a context where it involves the mediums and processes of, art, technology, and varied philosophical, political interjections, and observed outlooks. The exhibition presents us the visitor with an opportunity to reflect on the connected world through the experience of disconnectedness which has successfully been woven into the exhibition’s concept. The works shift and turn not with one message, but as oracles, or reminders that, there is a possibility of living differently, where we can create communities in alternative ways and highlight the value of questioning, while critically experimenting with our methods of communication. Time or capitalism, are not the main messages, but it’s more about what we do with them. It is an important and necessary exhibition that needs our immediate attention.

24/7:
A WAKE-UP CALL FOR OUR NON-STOP WORLD
is at Somerset House in London until 23 Feb 2020
somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/247

Featured Image:
‘Slogans for the 21st Century’
Courtesy of Douglas Coupland
and Maria Francesca Moccia, EyeEm
via Getty Images

A list of recommendations, reflecting the dynamic culture we are part of, straddling the fields of art, technology and social change.

Events, Exhibitions, Festivals and Conferences

Panel Discussion: My Mind, Your Weapon | Hosted by arebyte | Sat 11 Jan 2020 | Join artist Sarah Selby in a discussion around the impact of behavioural targeting on democracy, diversity and autonomy with panelists: Ves Popov, Laurie Love, Kadine James and Rod Dickenson. The panel will focus on fostering curiosity, facilitating discussion and provoking critical thinking around often inaccessible issues surrounding the processes and applications of big data – particularly with regards to data bias, the Internet of Things and Smart Cities – https://bit.ly/2tlGoyU

WILDBIYOO 2020 Artist Residency in the jungle, Goa, India | The tribe goa | 13 Jan 2020 – 2 Feb 2020 | Wildbiyoo is dedicating January 2020 to the arts to summon the world’s most progressive thinkers and creatives to join us in reckoning with the greatest existential crisis of our times. The mission of the month is to investigate how creatives can facilitate new dialogue, inspire social and political transformations and reimagine our relationship to nature in response to climate breakdown | More details on FB – https://bit.ly/2Qh4pA1

Afterall Journal Reading Group: Disobedient Video | Hosted by Arts Catalyst and Afterall | Wednesday, 22 January 2020 | Arts Catalyst hosts the second session in a new series of collaborative reading groups presented by Afterall, for which curator Lauren Houlton will lead a discussion of Afterall Journal article ‘Disobedient Video in France in the 1970s: Video Production by Women’s Collectives’. To mark each new issue of the journal, Afterall is inviting a UK-based reading group to identify a text from the current issue and pair it with external readings and films | FB link – http://tiny.cc/s3ghhz

Trickle Down, A New Vertical Sovereignty – Helen Knowles | Hosted by arebyte and FutureEverything | Thurs 23 Jan 2020, 18:00-21:00 | New Vertical Sovereignty, a new body of work by UK based artist Helen Knowles, is a tokenised four-screen video installation and generative soundscape attached to the blockchain, which explores value systems and wealth disparity. The artwork is composed of auction scenes, performances and choral interludes by different communities such as prisoners, blockchain technology employees, market sellers, and Sotheby’s auction bidders, looking to re-imagine our vertically stacked digital ecosystem to horizontally distribute wealth – https://bit.ly/2F7ThPt

Sonic Electronics with Fixateur Externe/Bubble People/Onin | Hosted by Laura Netz | Sat 25 Jan 2020 | Sonic Electronics is an experimental event | We propose an anti-techno-capitalist approach to music genres like ambient, drone, techno, experimental, electronics, acousmatic, live coding, noise, vaporwave, glitch, dark, new wave, postpunk,….. | Artists: Fixateur Externe  / Bubble People (Per Jas) / Onin (James L Malone and Joe Wright) / Medial Ages (Laura Netz) | FB link – http://tiny.cc/n8ghhz

Soft Power 04: an exhibition in a spreadsheet | Hosted by Micheál O’Connell, Andrea Slater and Daniella Norton | Fri 31 Jan 2020, 18:30-23:59 | A fourth exhibition by the Soft Power people, this time in a spreadsheet. Look at it at home, or on your device, or wherever. Drink some wine and chat to friends about what you witness. The link will be supplied with those ‘GOING’ on the date (Thursday 31st October) at 7pm. “We will be limiting numbers Going to this (file) Opening event to a maximum of 60.” For updates sign up to Mocksim’s mailing list http://www.mocksim.org/contact.htm

Queer techno rave INFERNO take over the ICA’s Theatre, Bar and Cinema with an all-night programme of music, queer porn and performance art. Brought to you by performance artist and DJ Lewis G. Burton and producer and musician Sebastian Bartz under their DJ alter-ego Venice Calypso, INFERNO marries the camp with the underground, pop with techno, and the very good with the very bad | Fri, 31 Jan 2020 – https://bit.ly/2S0ntDT

Copy That? Surplus Data in an Age of Repetitive Duplication | Private view of the 2020 art exhibition from the Open Data Institute (ODI), Copy That? Surplus Data in an Age of Repetitive Duplication. The exhibition will be unveiled in the company’s Shoreditch offices on Tuesday 4 February 2020. Artists are Mr Gee, Alistair Gentry and Ben Neale, Edie Jo Murray & Harmeet Chagger-Khan

The evening kicks off with an in-conversation to celebrate the publication of Art Hack Practice: Critical Intersections of Art, Innovation and the Maker Movement, edited by Victoria Bradbury and Suzy O’Hara, which features a chapter on Data as Culture. The panel will be facilitated by Dr. Suzy O’ Hara. Participants are: Hannah Redler-Hawes (ODI), Marc Garett (Furtherfield), Inini Papadimitriou (FutureEverything) – https://bit.ly/39xkk4C

Books, Open Calls, Papers & Publications

Beyond Hashtags: Racial Politics and Black Digital Networks | Critical Cultural Communication | By Sarah Florini | Beyond Hashtags explores these everyday practices and their relationship to larger social issues through an in-depth analysis of a trans-platform network of black American digital and social media users and content creators. In the crucial years leading up to the emergence of the Movement for Black Lives, black Americans used digital networks not only to cope with day-to-day experiences of racism, but also as an incubator for the debates that have since exploded onto the national stage. Published by: NYU Press – https://bit.ly/2r1Bt5l

Networked Content Analysis: The Case of Climate Change | By Sabine Niederer | With a foreword by Klaus Krippendorff | Climate change is one of the key societal challenges of our times, and its debate takes place across scientific disciplines and into the public realm, traversing platforms, sources, and fields of study. The analysis of such mediated debates has a strong tradition, which started in communication science and has since then been applied across a wide range of academic disciplines | Published by the Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam, 2019 – https://bit.ly/2SIZyZT

“V[R]erses”: An XR Story Series | A V[R]erse is a microstory. Each story consists of a storybox that can be experienced in 3D via a WebVR enabled mobile device, desktop PC and in Virtual Reality. Each V[R]erse is created by different digital literature authors [text] and Mez Breeze [development + design, model + concept creation, audio]. Designed and Developed by Mez Breeze Design, Supported by Mezangelle. Includes authors/artists: Annie Abrahams,  Davin Heckman, Jeremy Hight, Mark Marino, Scott Rettberg | Online – https://bit.ly/343fFDH

The Memory Police (Fiction) | By Yolo Ogawa | “An elegantly spare dystopian fable . . . Reading The Memory Police is like sinking into a snowdrift: lulling yet suspenseful, it tingles with dread and incipient numbness . . . Ogawa’s ruminant style captures the alienation of being alive as the world’s ecosystems, ice sheets, languages, animal species and possible futures vanish more quickly than any one mind can apprehend.” The New York Times Book Review | Penguin Random House USA – https://bit.ly/35k16wp

Museums Inside Out: Artist Collaborations and New Exhibition Ecologies | By Mark W. Rectanus |  An ambitious study of what it means to be a museum in the twenty-first century | In Museums Inside Out, investigates how museums are blurring the boundaries between their gallery walls and public spaces. He examines how artists are challenging and changing museums, taking readers deep into new experiments in exhibition making while also offering insights about how museums currently exemplify the fusion of the creative and digital economies. Expected publication: February 1st 2020 by University of Minnesota Press – https://bit.ly/2QdrEee

The Red Years: Forbidden Poems from Inside North Korea | Bandi | Translated by Heinz Insu Fenkl | Authored by one of North Korea’s most acclaimed dissident writers, this is the first collection of Bandi’s poetry to be published in English | Though North Korea holds the attention of the world, it is still rare for us to hear North Korean voices, beyond those few who have escaped. Known only by his pen name, the poet and author ‘Bandi’ stands as one of the most distinctive and original dissident writers to emerge from the country | Zed Books – https://bit.ly/2SNr88i

Liberal Arts Perspectives on Globalism and Transnationalism | Unabridged, 1 Jan 2020 | By Hyun Wu Lee, ‎Mark van de Logt  | As international trade and economic activities expand, online technologies spread, and restless populations shift across national boundaries, reactionary movements have sprung up around the globe. These reactionary forces, which include nationalism and populism, have exposed many blind-spots of ongoing globalization projects. To understand the frictions between transnational enterprises and local resistance more fully, as well as analyze the human cost of immigration and the threats posed by online technologies, scholars from around the world gathered in Doha, Qatar, for the Sixth Annual Liberal Arts International Conference (2018) |  Cambridge Scholars Publishing – https://bit.ly/368xdjH

Articles, Interviews, Presentations, videos

BEYOND THE “BLOKECHAIN”: THE CRYPTOFEMINIST AGENDA | Video | This session aims to open your mind. Andy Morales Coto tickles your imaginative bones by offering visual prompts to help us redesign the world’s economic future. Ruth Catlow explores the spaces of convergence between the Commons and P2P movements along with the world of cooperatives and the Social and Solidarity Economy. Denise Thwaites offers a feminist analysis of DAO cultures and the emergent affective economies they instate. And Ailie Rutherford shows how feminist economics can be put into practice on a daily basis by presenting her real and existing The People’s Bank of Govanhill | Speakers: Andy Morales Coto, Ruth Catlow, Denise Thwaites, Ailie Rutherford | Moderator: Rachel Falconer | Institute of Network Cultures | https://vimeo.com/376668856

Only 2% of global art auction spending is on work by women, study finds (2019) | A new study has found that despite perceived signs of progress, the art world remains overwhelmingly male-dominated | According to a report assembled by In Other Words & artnet News, the last 10 years has found a lack of growth for female representation in art with just 2% of global art auction spending on work by women. This figure is also unevenly distributed, with five artists making up 40.7% of this figure and Yayoi Kusama in particular accounting for 25% alone. A new report finds women’s work still underrepresented in the art world, with only 11% of art purchased by institutions female-made | Guardian – https://bit.ly/39wDJCQ

CRISPR Cheat Sheet: The Most Important Gene Editing Stories of 2019: Human trials, bird flu, gene editing in space, and more | By Emily Mullin | Medium | On May 4, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched a Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. Among its cargo was an experiment involving the CRISPR gene-editing system, which astronauts aboard the ISS used to successfully edit DNA in space. They made targeted cuts to the yeast genome that mimicked genetic damage caused by cosmic radiation, one of the biggest health risks that long-term spaceflight poses to humans. They say the ISS experiment could yield clues about how cells repair their DNA in space – https://bit.ly/2ZHZY4v

Raul Vaneigem: Here we are! At the beginning of everything! | Dec 24, 2019 | The sudden attacks of freedom on the suffocating capitalist hydra, constantly make the epicenter of the seismic disturbances fluctuate. The territories of the whole world, affected by the system of private benefits are exposed to the outburst of insurrectional movements. Consciousness is forced to run after successive waves of events, reacting to constant, paradoxically predictable and unexpected shocks. Two realities struggle against each other in the face of the violence. One is the reality of lying. Taking advantage of technological progress, you try to manipulate public opinion for the benefit of established power. The other is the reality of daily life of the population – https://bit.ly/2QdnanP

I believe Google fired me for organising – but tech workers won’t give up the fight | By Kathryn Spiers | 20 December 2019 | Last week I was fired by Google for informing my colleagues of their rights. I created a pop-up that appeared when Google employees visited the website of the union-busting firm the company recently hired, telling them they had the right to organise. Hours later, I was suspended. Google’s decision to retaliate against its own workers isn’t just an issue for Googlers, but for the entire tech industry, including other large companies like Amazon and Facebook – https://bit.ly/2sridPu

Image: Bring Me My Firetruck, by Mr Gee. Part of the Copy That? Surplus Data in an Age of Repetitive Duplication, exhibition at the Open Data Institute, London, Feb 2020.

FurtherList Archives https://www.furtherfield.org/the-furtherlist-archives/

A list of recommendations, reflecting the dynamic culture we are part of, straddling the fields of art, technology and social change.

Permanent archive of all the FurtherLists.

FurtherList No.28 Nov 5th 2021
https://www.furtherfield.org/furtherlist-no-28-nov-5th-2021/

FurtherList No.27 Oct 1st 2021
https://www.furtherfield.org/furtherlist-no-27-oct-1st-2021/

FurtherList No.26 Sept 3rd 2021
https://www.furtherfield.org/furtherlist-no-26-sept-3rd-2021/

FurtherList No.25 July 4th 2021
https://www.furtherfield.org/furtherlist-no-24-july-4th-2021-2/

FurtherList No.24 June 4th 2021
https://www.furtherfield.org/furtherlist-no-24-june-4th-2021/

FurtherList No.23 April 2nd 2021
https://www.furtherfield.org/furtherlist-no-23-april-2nd-2021/

FurtherList No.22 March 5th, 2021
https://www.furtherfield.org/furtherlist-no-22-march-5th-2021/

FurtherList No.21 January 8th 2021
https://www.furtherfield.org/furtherlist-no-21-january-8th-2021/

FurtherList No.20 December 4th, 2020
https://www.furtherfield.org/furtherlist-no-20-december-4th-2020/

FurtherList No.19 April 3rd 2020
https://www.furtherfield.org/furtherlist-no-19-april-3rd-2020/

FurtherList No.18 March 6th 2020
https://www.furtherfield.org/furtherlist-no-18-march-6th-2020/

FurtherList No.17 February 7th 2020
https://www.furtherfield.org/furtherlist-no-17-february-7th-2020/

FurtherList No.16 January 3rd 2020
https://www.furtherfield.org/furtherlist-no-16-january-3rd-2020/

FurtherList No.15 Nov 29th 2019
https://www.furtherfield.org/furtherlist-no-15-nov-29th-2019

FurtherList No.14 Oct 26th 2019
https://www.furtherfield.org/furtherlist-no-14-oct-26th-2019

FurtherList No.13 Sept 27th 2019
https://www.furtherfield.org/furtherlist-no-13-sept-27th-2019

FurtherList No.12 Sep 20th 2019
https://www.furtherfield.org/furtherlist-no-12-sep-20th-2019

FurtherList No.11 September 6th 2019
https://www.furtherfield.org/furtherlist-no-11-september-6th-2019

FurtherList No.10 August 30th 2019
https://www.furtherfield.org/furtherlist-no-10-august-30th-2019

FurtherList No.9 August 23rd 2019
https://www.furtherfield.org/furtherlist-no-9-august-23rd-2019

FurtherList No.8 August 16th 2019
https://www.furtherfield.org/furtherlist-no-8-august-16th-2019

FurtherList No.7 Aug 9th 2019
https://www.furtherfield.org/the-furtherlist-future-fair-special-no-7-aug-9th-2019

FurtherList No.6 July 30th 2019
https://www.furtherfield.org/the-furtherlist-no-6-july-30th-2019

The FurtherList No.5 July 5th 2019
https://www.furtherfield.org/the-furtherlist-no-5-july-5th-2019

FurtherList No.4 June 21st 2019
https://www.furtherfield.org/the-furtherlist-no-4-june-21st-2019

FurtherList No.3 June 14th 2019
https://www.furtherfield.org/the-weekly-furtherlist-no-3-june-14th-2019

FurtherList No.2 June 7th 2019
https://www.furtherfield.org/the-weekly-furtherlist-no-2-june-7th-2019

FurtherList No.1 May 31st 2019
https://www.furtherfield.org/the-weekly-furtherlist-no-1-june-3rd-2019

Main image: Bad Shibe. Story by Rhea Myers and Illustrations by Lina Theodoru. Wall installation. NEW WORLD ORDER exhibition, at Furtherfield 20 May – 25 June 2017. Photo by Pau Ros. https://www.furtherfield.org/new-world-order/