exercise #6

Discussion Group/Workshop Sessions as part of PUBLIC IN(TER)VENTION symposium
Chiang Mai; 20 Feb 2005
The Spy School (exercise # 6) presented by Manu Luksch and Varsha Nair


[synopsis]
The Spy School recruits scrutinise the public-private borderline of post-9/11 daily life in a climate where the ethic of surveillance is in the ascendancy and the development of its technologies in overdrive. Exercise #6 discusses the relevance of these themes for Asia and the Asian public arts context.


[media space]
Media space is the public space of today; artists working with ICT technologies like to exploit the spacial qualities of media: networks as a place to communicate, exchange, express, meet; and as a place to hijack, surveil, manipulate, track.


[ambivalence]
The same technology which promises to make us 'omniscient' and 'omnipresent', and lets us create independent social spaces, ties us into a network where we are vulnerable to tracking and surveillance.
The same digital technologies that are enthusiastically used by groups searching to empower communities, diversify communication channels, and introduce horizontal social structures, are also being used to enforce the very power relationships being questioned.
Under the banner of the War Against Terror, elements in government agencies, corporations and the media are fuelling public fear and encroaching on long-established rights of citizens. Exposure to forces of centralisation and control also occurs in a more subtle way through increasing connectivity to hierarchical communications networks.

[further info]
coming soon

 

 
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