installations
— 12-18 SEPT. / 14:00-20:00
— Comenduirea Garnizoanei
Where ART Thou? is a project initiated by Rezidența9 in partnership with Simultan festival. WhAT is designed as an annual event around the arts, social sciences and humanities where technology is both a method, a tool of production and communication, and a source of inspiration. In 2022, WhAT brings back to the public’s attention discussions on the connections between art, new technologies and society.
The WhAT? concept 2022 relies on the status of individual or collective invisibility in an attempt to protect individual identity in the interaction from the digital environment. At the same time, it provides a critical analysis of the exploitation and control aspects of digital technology, awareness of the situation and possible consequences of the current uses of new technologies, social networks, big data and surveillance systems.
This year, the program proposes two dimensions:
A series of 6 intensive training and mentoring workshops supported by Romanian and international theoreticians and practitioners, with constant concerns about the impact of technology on society.
The workshops took place between June and July in Bucharest and Timișoara and were coordinated by the artists: VOID Collective (Belgium), Johannes Grenzfurthner (Austria), Sarah Grant (USA / Germany), Nicolas Montgermont (France), professor Peter Osborne ( UK) and philosopher Radu Uszkai (Romania).
Following the workshops, the mentors and curators of Rezidența9 and Simultan Festival chose 5 projects that were produced and will be exhibited at SIMULTAN Festival 2022, following that in the fall the projects will also be exhibited at Rezidența9 in Bucharest.
Dorian Bolca
IN SEARCH FOR SHADE
multimedia installation, 2022
Starting from the idea of the problem of illegal tree cutting, the installation proposes a sculptural pseudo-mechanism to activate or reactivate the collective consciousness on the phenomenon, but also to put forward possible solutions for monitoring these illegal actions.
Claudia Chiriță
TO THE MOON AND BACK
multimedia installation with antenna, 2022
The work aims to discuss the issue of digital surveillance and the relationship between new and old communication technologies through a game. It invites us to renegotiate the terms of our participation in the digital environment and online interactions: are we still trying to strike a balance between maintaining a reasonable degree of digital anonymity and easily divulging sensitive information by readily accepting terms and conditions? Do we still care what information is recorded, shared and stored about us?
Denis Flueraru
INVERSE:SURVEILLANCE
interactive multimedia installation, 2022
Snowden’s 2013 revelations provided a rare glimpse into the scale of mass surveillance by secret agencies in the digital age. This gaze is represented in my interactive installation through the user performing a process of reverse surveillance, also known as ‘sousveillance’, in the operation of state power.
Ștefan Sava
THE NEVER ENDING STORY
multimedia installation, 2022
Explores how severe constraints on communication and context can serve as interactive means to create open emergent discourse.
… somewhere at the opposite end of the room, a printer prints out the speech as it is generated.
Andrei Tudose
SAY IT OUT LOUD
Machine learning model developed based on Generative Pre-trained
Transformer 2 (GPT-2) architecture – created by OpenAI, 2022. A physical
manifestation of Andrei Tudose’s intimate universe in an external
structure, through a series of messages generated by machine learning
algorithms, based on ideas, words and emotions from the last 3 years. By
giving all his Whatsapp conversations to an artificial intelligence
program, Andrei builds a mirror placed in front of his own reality and
composed of thoughts he has not thought.
Where ART Thou is financed by the Municipality of Timișoara, through the Project Center and the Foundation9.
Supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum and the Goethe-Institut Bucharest.
Production partner: Plan Zero
Rezidența9 is a contemporary culture center created by BRD – Groupe Société Générale in Bucharest. Currently, alongside Fundația9, the Rezidența9 collective develops programs where relevant thinkers and creators meet the public and use arts, culture and dialogue to better understand the world we live in.