Global Control and Censorship
Curators: Bernhard Serexhe and Lívia Nolasco-Rózsás
Starting 29 April, in collaboration with the Goethe-Institute and ZKM Centre for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Tallinn Art Hall will present the international exhibition Global Control and Censorship, which will look at the unrelenting encroachment of surveillance and censorship into our everyday lives. Using personal stories and comments by close to forty artists we will be given, on the one hand, a glimpse into the more or less invisible violence perpetrated by the authorities towards citizens, and on the other hand, advice as to what an individual can do against this.
The opening is on Friday 28 April at 6pm and the exhibition will be open until 18 June.
In addition to internet applications and environments, which save, sell and exchange our personal details in the interests of making money, modern citizens are also surrounded by vigilant eyes – security cameras – in the physical public space. Calling a completely new number may unwittingly place us on a list of tapped telephones and being similar in name or appearance to someone suspected of terrorism may cause an innocent holiday to become a long string of interrogations and detention.
Global Control and Censorship is based on collaboration with scientists, journalists, activists and artists from around 20 countries world-wide, with the aim of promoting public discussion of the reach and influence of the omnipresent mechanisms of surveillance and censorship. The need for such a discussion does not stem only from it being topical, but from the fact that due to their constant activity, recognising and exposing these methods gets harder day by day.
“If once there was the hope for a new participatory democracy through digital forms of communication, then recently it has found a new retrograde application and has become a perfect way to monitor and steer billions of people. If you use them, you will be used.” says co-curator, Bernhard Serexhe, painting a dark picture of the shadowy side of social media.
In the opinion of Art Hall curator, Siim Preiman, the exhibition organised in Karlsruhe, Germany last year also suits the Estonian context, “In Estonia, a country of international renown as an e-state, it is especially important to understand the dangers of the digital world and ask ourselves how much we are willing to sacrifice in the interests of user-friendliness.”
Participating artists: aaajiao, Hamra Abbas, Selma Alaçam, Halil Altındere, Daniel G. Andújar, Osman Bozkurt, James Bridle, Alice Cavoukdjian dite Galli, Hasan Elahi, Michael Grudziecki, KIT KASTEL, Jonathon Keats, Karel Koplimets, Frédéric Krauke, Marc Lee, Virginia Mastrogiannaki, Erik Mátrai, Gerardo Nolasco, Chris Oakley, Ruben Pater, Dan Perjovschi, Axel Philipp, Ma Qiusha, Oliver Ressler, Bernhard Serexhe, Christian Sievers, SKATKA, Louisa Marie Summer, Finger Pointing Worker, Wilko Thiele, Ivar Veermäe, Alex Wenger & Max-Gerd Retzlaff
Curators: Bernhard Serexhe, Lívia Nolasco-Rózsás
Installation: Valge Kuup
Visit the Art Hall website for the latest information (updated daily) on public events in connection with the exhibition. Visit a virtual version of the exhibition at: www.goethe.de/tallinn/globalcontrol
We would like to thank: Estonian Cultural Endowment, Ministry of Culture, Tallinn Department of Culture, Veinisõber, Kuu Stuudio, Saksa Kevad, Baden-Württemberg
