SIGNALS · Exhibition of the Snowden Files in Art, Media and Archives · curated by Magdalena Taube and Krystian Woznicki · DIAMONDPAPER Studio · Köpenicker Straße 96, Berlin · 12/9-1/11/2017
HOW CAN THE RAW MATERIAL OF THE SNOWDEN FILES BE TRANSFORMED INTO ART AND COMMONS?
SIGNALS is the first project to critically engage with artists not just responding to but also actually working with the NSA files leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden. It reflects on how artists are deploying the files as raw material and, by creating all kinds of works, are transforming them into commons. The exhibition/books include contributions by Zeljko Blace (CRO), Andrew Clement (CAN), Naomi Colvin (GBR), Simon Denny (NZL), Christoph Hochhäusler (GER), Evan Light (CAN), Geert Lovink (NED), M.C. McGrath (USA), Henrik Moltke (DEN), Deborah Natsios (USA), Julian Oliver (NZL), Trevor Paglen (USA), Laura Poitras (USA), SAZAE bot (JPN), Stefan Tiron (ROU), University of the Phoenix (CAN), Maria Xynou (ESP), and John Young (USA).
I. Video Talks
Simon Denny (artist)
Zeljko Blace (artist)
Max Haiven/Cassie Thornton (art group)
Deborah Natsios/John Young (activists)
Andrew Clement (researcher)
Evan Light (artist)
Naomi Colvin (activist)
M.C. McGrath (coder)
Maria Xeynou (researcher/activist)
Christoph Hochhäusler (filmmaker)
Joseph Vogl (philosopher)
Maria Xeynou (researcher/activist)
II. Exhibition
Objectives
The title takes its cue from intelligence agencies: they refer to any type of communication as a ‘signal’, and they collect and analyze these ‘signals’ on a massive scale. The exhibition translates this into the language of culture, where the world is coded and decoded in the form of ‘signals’ shaped by political and economic contexts. The exhibition is partitioned into two sections: frontend and backend. These terms designate on the one hand computerized user interfaces, on the other data bases which reside behind the interfaces. The backend structures the possibilities of the frontend, e.g. by monitoring all interactions and by using that data to predict future uses. All of this remains opaque to users. The exhibition turns the tables on these conditions and complicates them.
Frontend
The frontend of the SIGNALS exhibition presents a representative spectrum of appropriations of the Snowden documents in the fields of art, media and archives. In this way the frontend provides insights into processes and infrastructure that usually remain black-boxed: e.g., the cooperations between security services and commercial web services, the web of undersea cables that actually constitutes the celestial cloud, the discursive construction of quantified citizens, etc. The disclosures of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden are not simply documented at the exhibition’s frontend; instead they appear transformed through various forms of appropriation: as works of art, as material of archives, as dubious media sources.
Backend
The backend of the exhibition has the look and feel of an open participation platform. The exhibition appears unfinished and confronts the visitors with the question of how they can contribute to the show and expand the actual body of work. The backend presents options for working with the Snowden documents. In this way it places the potential of the precarious documents up for discussion. Material, tools, workshops and art works offer possibilities to transform the documents and their ‘secret knowledge’ into means of political communication. Meanwhile, additional materials such as news clippings or quotes from movies are calling forth doubt – last but not least about the socio-political consequences of any work that has been done with Snowden files so far.
II. Events + Books
Program
The exhibition program is complemented with events such as talks, performances and workshops. Moreover, two publications extend the dialectical frontend/backend narrative of the exhibition. Both books will be published in English by DIAMONDPAPER. Locations: The book launch on 11/09 will take place at Buchhandlung Walther König an der Museumsinsel, Burgstraße 27, 10178 Berlin. All other events will take place at DIAMONDPAPER Studio, Köpenicker Straße 96, 10179 Berlin. All events are ‘free entry’.
Events
11/09 at 7 p.m.: Book Launch of “A Field Guide to the Snowden Files” feat. Christoph Hochhäusler. 12/09 at 6 p.m.: Exhibition opening feat. Zeljko Blace, Stefan Tiron & other artists of the exhibition. 13/09 at 6 p.m.: Workshop feat. Naomi Colvin & Evan Light. 25/09 at 6 p.m.: Talk feat. Max Haiven & Joseph Vogl. 26/09 at 6 p.m.: Finissage feat. performance by Sazae Bot, talk by Andrew Clement & Simon Denny. 01/11 at 7 p.m.: Special closing performance by University of the Phoenix. All events – except the book launch on Sept. 11 – will take place at DIAMONDPAPER Studio.
Books
“A Field Guide to the Snowden Files. Media, Art, Archives. 2013-2017”, edited by the exhibition curators Magdalena Taube and Krystian Woznicki, gathers for the first time a representative selection of artists working with the Snowden files. You can order the book here. “Fugitive Belonging”, authored by Krystian Woznicki, reflects the broader socio-political context behind the Snowden disclosures by combining photography and theory. You can order the book here.