[spectre] The Society of Control

Tue, 28 Aug 2001 12:57:10 +0200

in case you missed it...
eric
:)

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A  N  N  O  U  N  C  E  M  E  N  T

Things to Come  #21

The Society of Control
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Object:
Electronic Surveillance / Automated Observation /  Control State / Databody
Profiles / Tele-Marketeering / GSM-Taps

Date of Operation:
=46riday August 31 & Saturday September 1

Access:
De Balie - Amsterdam

De Balie, centre for culture and politics in Amsterdam, starts off the new
season with a special edition of the series Things to Come, which is
entirely devoted to electronic observation and control. Things to Come is a
series of programs of De Balie around interdisciplinary art forms,
experimental cinema and new media.

The Society of Control questions the exponential growth of electronic
observation and control systems. These systems increasingly dominate a
variety of aspects of public and private life.

=46irst of all the physical space is increasingly monitored by control
systems, such as observation cameras, movement detection systems, automated
tracking systems that can identify and track individual persons, iris
scanners, finger print readers and other "biometric" devices, right up to
DNA databases. Also the electronic space of telephones, GSMs and internet
are being scrutinised by increasingly sophisticated control technologies.
The Netherlands is infamous for the intense deployment of telephone tabs,
and it is well known that it is dead-easy to tap into GSM communication.
The recent concern raised about the English/American automated global
interception and relay system Echelon, used to monitor e-mail and other
types of electronic communication, has highlighted for the first time for a
wider audience just how vulnerable this electronic communication space is.

The myth that the Internet is a free space where anything is possible, and
consequently everything happens that is not allowed elsewhere, has been the
best pretext to organise the large scale policing of the new communication
spaces. What is striking is the fanaticism with which all kinds of
communication and publication forms, that have thrived and flourished in
the physical space for years, now are are rigorously prosecuted in the
digital domain. The fear of an uncontrolled electronic freezone leads to an
excessive growth of policing and control systems. The privacy of individual
citizens and their fundamental right to freedom of expression are
ruthlessly violated - all energy seems focussed on total control.

The title of the program refers deliberately to Gilles Deleuze's notion of
a Control Society, as he has outlined it in his essay "Postscript on the
Societies of Control".

http://www.nadir.org/nadir/archiv/netzkritik/societyofcontrol.html

A number of befriended artists has been invited by De Balie to create a
panorama of electronic observation and control: No abstract discussions but
the visceral experience of electronic observation.

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Live on-air
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VPRO TELE TAP night

CUT-n-PASTE put their system Teletap at the disposal of British sound
artist and DJ Scanner to create a live audio landscape of Amsterdam, on the
=46riday night on VPRO Radio 747 AM and on Saturday night live in De Balie.

=46riday August 31 - starting at  22.00
on radio 747 AM and stereo via the Amsterdam cable system
End: 06.00 uur

http://www.tele-tap.net

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Saturday September 1
De Balie - Grote Zaal
Aanvang: 21.00 uur

Agents:
_______

0100101110110101.org

0100101110110101.org - this Italian artist duo will present a multimedia
lecture performance based on their project life_sharing - during one year
0100101110110101.org have made their private computer transparent on their
web site, complete with all personal and business transactions...

http://www.0100101110110101.ORG

CUT-n-PASTE & Scanner

CUT-n-PASTE put their system Teletap at the disposal of British sound
artist and DJ Scanner to create a live audio landscape of Amsterdam in De
Balie. Sounds of assistants equipped with transparent GSM phones are
remixed live in the theatre of De Balie.

British sound artist, Robin Rimbaud - creates absorbing, multi-layered
soundscapes that twist technology in unconventional ways. His controversial
early work used scanned mobile phone conversations which he wove into his
soundscapes, thus focusing on the split between the public and the private.
As well as producing compositions and recordings, Scanner has created
soundtracks for films, performances, and radio plays, and creates
multimedia installations.
http://www.scannerdot.com/

CUT-n-PASTE is a crossmedia company from Amsterdam focused primarily on
documentary practice and new media.
http://www.cut-n-paste.nl

Technical design: Engage.nu
Web site / Installation:  Pipslab (Keez Duyves)

This program can also be followed live via:
http://www.balie.nl/live   &   http://live.dds.nl

And via the teletap web site:
http://www.teletap.net

Bill Spinhoven - I/Eye
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Bill Spinhoven's installation I/Eye - an eye on a monitor tracks people
moving in front of it - no further action - the feeling of an electronic
eye that monitors all our movements,however, becomes inescapable.

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Screenings
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A specially selected program of films and video that deal with the theme of
observation and control will be screened across both evenings:

=46riday -  August 31, 21:30 - Cinema De Balie
TTC # 21: Society Of Control:

A look at the Society of Control with 7 short films.

COUPLE, Hans Peter Amman, Swe., 1998, 11min, video
Analytic film about the human need to ascribe meaning to images.

OBSERVATION # 762, Bart Dijkman, NL., 1997, 7min, video
The viewer observes, via a security camera, a choreography for one man and
one car.

SURVEILLANCE, Chris Petit, G.B., 1996, 17min, video
Security cameras exist because of the anticipation of future crimes.
Simultaneously, an unsuspecting passer-by is seen as a potential suspect.

LOOK AT ME, Peter Stel, NL, 1998, 3'30min., video
The viewer is witness of the emotions unleashed with an adolescent girl by
a concert of the Back Street Boys.

iNSIDEoUT, Therese Jacobsen, Erik Vang, Nor., 2000, 2'30min, 35mm
In the internet age it has become more easy for the individual to find an
audience. Conversely society increasingly invades the private sphere.
Besides "Big Brother who is watching you", many "small brothers: have come
into existence.

LEHRFILM =DCBER DIE REKONSTRUKTION VON STASI-AKTEN, Anke Limprecht, Ger.,
2000, 11'30min., 16mm
The flim portrays two so-called "Gauckbeh=F6rde", who are putting pieces
together ina room filled with torn-up Stasi-files.

HOST, Kristin Lucas, 1997, 7'36", Eng, video
An on-line therapy session, in which the surveillance camera becomes the
eye of the media.

Saturday September 1, 19:30
TTC # 21: Society Of Control

TIME CODE
Mike Figgis, USA, 1999, Eng., 92min,  no subtitles, dvd

=46our separate cameras follow the intrigue, sex, power, jealousy and rage o=
f
a diverse group of L.A. players as the action unfolds in real time with no
edits and no retakes. Sexy, tense, and unnerving, TIME CODE builds toward a
shocking and disturbing climax.

http://www.timecode2000.com.

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Tickets  and reservations
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Ticket prices:  DFL 16,50 (DFL 11,00 with CJP/CKV/PAS 65/Stadspas/Student
Card).
=46ilm: DFL 13,75 (DFl 11,-)
Opening hours kassa:  work days 13.00-18.00 hrs, or till the start of the
program. In the weekend 1,5 hrs before start of the program.
Telephone reservations: +31 (0)20 55 35 100  duiring opening hours until 45
minutes before start of the program.

De Balie, Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 10, 1017 RR Amsterdam
http://www.balie.nl

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World-Information.Org
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The program The Society of Control is also organised to announce a large
scale art and new media project, World-Information.Org, which will be
organised in Amsterdam in the Fall of 2002 by De Waag - Society for Old and
New Media, Montevideo - Netherlands Media Art Institute, and De Balie, in
co-operation with Public Netbase, Institute for New Culture Technologies,
in Vienna.

Amsterdam will host the third edition of World-Information.Org around
September 2002, a continuation of prior editions in Brussels (2000) and
Vienna (2001), where the project attracted appr. 35.000 visitors.
Information about the earlier editions and the themes of these programs can
be found on the very extensive web site of World-Information.Org:

http://www.world-information.org