FoAM - surveillance

Translucent futures visual

maja — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:02:53 +0000

Angelo Vermeulen: Translucent Futures

maja — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:51:01 +0000

Ubiquitous technology and the attrition of civil rights and privacy

Translucent Futures is an artistic/activist platform initiated by Angelo Vermeulen that deals with the increasing abrasion of civil liberties through ubiquitous, networked, miniaturized technology. Far-reaching use of techniques such as data mining, audiovisual surveillance, automated behavioural analysis, see-through body scanning, DNA profiling etc. is being legislated at a disturbing rate. While governmental and corporate use of these technologies is consistently pushed further into the realms of daily life, the opposite seems to be the case for civilians: technologies can only be used under firm restrictions, or are simply not accessible. Data mining for example is widely used by corporations, while the same activity when carried out by an individual is too easily labelled ‘hacking’.

Regardless of activist groups continuously questioning these issues, the larger public does not appear well-informed. The complexity, diversity and speed of current technological developments can be daunting. Moreover, many of these developments and techniques are applied in secrecy and can hardly be discerned by an untrained eye. This automatically raises vital questions about contemporary civil liberties and the relation between civilians and government. If most techniques only become visible after we transgress the law (e.g. introduced as evidence), should we be worried at all? Or should we rather strive for a fully transparent society based on accountability, where the ‘watchers’ can also be watched, at all times?

Translucent Futures hopes to keep the attention to the imperative problem of eroding civil liberties in modern hi-tech society. The project is set up in close collaboration with FoAM in Brussels and the support of a growing list of other cultural organisations (Nadine, Brussels; The Hub Brussels; Arteconomy etc.). The objective is to combine open collaborative research, multidisciplinary dialogue, artistic practice and activism.

See also:
In progress: http://libarynth.org/translucent_futures
[nadine] research residency: http://212.68.196.116/e/4965
Baudelaire in Cyberspace publication: http://www.angelovermeulen.net/specials.php
Artist's website and blog: http://www.angelovermeulen.net

Research Gathering with Angelo Vermeulen

maja — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:50:52 +0000

Start: 2008-10-31 18:00 Europe/Brussels

End: 2008-10-31 21:00 Europe/Brussels

During this research gathering Angelo Vermeulen will present a round-up of Translucent Futures, a project he started at FoAM in June and continued at a residency at [nadine] in September and October, supported by the Guild for Reality Integrators and Generators. The meeting starts with a short introduction outlining the project’s main goals and research approach through mind-mapping, wiki-building and collaboration with specialists from different fields.

Apart from functioning as an activist/artistic platform, Translucent Futures also functions as a base for the creation of new art projects. During his residency at [nadine] Vermeulen started the pre-production of a live documentary dealing with issues raised in Translucent Futures. As such, his research focus shifted from the strictly theoretical to a more practical, applied context. Two specific topics are explored in more detail: representation of the digital and dystopia in cyberpunk from the late 80s/early 90s, and hacking culture. Both serve as inspirational background material to shape the documentary project.

The presentation will conclude with a personal selection of video clips of cyberpunk/dystopian movies.

http://x4.fo.am/translucent_futures

The evening will continue with gRig's All Hallow's Eve