Curated by: Bernhard Serexhe, Lívia Rózsás
Artists
Aaajiao, Hamra Abbas, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Selma Alacam, Halil Altindere, Daniel Andújar, Jacob Appelbaum, Olivia Arthur, Sophia Bauer, Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan, Michael Bielicky, Zach Blas, Osman Bozkurt, James Bridle, Gonçalo F. Cardoso, Alice Cavoudjian, Chen Ching-Yao, James Coupe, Maxim Dondyuk, Hasan Elahi, Mounir Fatmi, Lutz Fetzer, Fidel Garcia, Benjamin Gaulon, Laurent Grasso, Michael Grudziecki, Jonathon Keats, Shinseungback Kimyonghun, Korpys & Löffler, Joe Krasean, Frederic Krauke, Kwan Sheung Chi, Marc Lee, Alexander Lehmann, Milica Lopicic, Jorge Loureiro, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Martin Lukas Kim, Jonas Lund, Ma Qiusha, Gerardo Nolasco Magaña, Jill Magid, Virginia Mastrogiannaki, Erik Matrai, Metahaven, Tomomi Morishima, Jens Mühlhoff, Chris Oakley, Trevor Paglen, Ruben Pater, Dieter Paul, Dan Perjovschi, Chantal Peñalosa, Axel Philipp, Elisabeth Pleß, Sascha Pohle, Oliver Ressler, Max-Gerd Retzlaff, Kamila B. Richter, Khvay Samnang, Svay Sareth, Julia Scher, Christian Sievers, Hito Steyerl, Kota Takeuchi, Team Titanic, Wilko Thiele, Kenneth Tin Kin Hung, UBERMORGEN, Moritz Walser, Damian Weber, Alex Wenger, Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries, Sener Özmen
Press Text
Knowledge is power. And power is possessed especially by whoever controls the flow of information. This applies particularly in digital culture, where all the information in the World Wide Web can be manipulated, uncontrolled. For a long time, a hope for new forms of democratic participation arose from the use of these digital instruments, but recently they have been misused as the ideal door opener for the surveillance of billions of people. Democratic states have long reserved the right to spy even on their »friends«, in all military, economic, and social aspects, and on all levels: governments, organizations, NGOs, and individual citizens are all under surveillance.
Besides mass analysis of communications metadata and massive access to personal data, there is increasingly open or clandestine censorship through manipulation or shutting down. Where the fear of this threat has no effect, the secrecy of important information is enforced, with methods ranging from hindering publication to kidnapping and assassinating journalists. Being at the mercy of overwhelmingly powerful authorities of control and censorship has become the conditio humana of our time. Today a large part of the public has already resigned in the face of a ubiquitous state and commercial surveillance.
This exhibition is based on the collaboration with a network of scientists, journalists, activists, and artists in some twenty countries around the world, and in cooperation with expert organizations such as the German PEN Center, the Chaos Computer Club, Reporters Without Borders, and such platforms as netzpolitik. org, digitalcourage.de, WikiLeaks, and others. The exhibition’s aim is to expand public debate about the ever-present surveillance and censorship methods, which is an urgent priority not only due to constant new reports in the media, but especially because of the extensive obstruction of the investigation of these practices.
