Journalists, activists, advocates, lawyers, researchers and critical thinkers unveil the persecution, control, and cultural violence around borders & migration.
BORDERS OF FEAR aims to shed light on wrongdoing in the context of migration by investigating the reasons and practice of rising borders and walls, leading to cultural and physical violence, persecution and human rights violations. The conference focuses on the discourse of borders both at a concrete level, and as a strategy of cultural violence on the part of right-wing propaganda. On the one hand, we analyse the closure of frontiers, creation of refugee camps, escalation of security; on the other hand, we investigate how border policing and the datafication of society are affecting the narrative around migrants and refugees in Europe and the west.
“Technical definitions, concepts and categories of migrants and migration are necessarily informed by geographic, legal, political, methodological, temporal and other factors.”
World Migration Report 2020
The terms “refugee”, “asylum-seeker” and “migrant” are used to describe people who are on the move, who have left their countries and have crossed borders, as defined by Amnesty International. Each category is treated differently by the law; however, many people who do not fit the legal definition of a refugee could be in danger if sent back home. For BORDERS OF FEAR we have decided to focus on the general terms of migration in relation to human right abuses and cultural violence, although we are conscious that legally there are specific differences.
The language used in the media to describe migrants, refugees and asylum seekers often blurs the line between those leaving their countries for economic betterment and those forced to leave to protect themselves and their families from war, conflicts and destruction of their countries of origin. Our perception of the situation in these diverse countries — be it North Africa, the Middle East or world wide — and the depiction of these people is heavily influenced by geopolitical strategies, financial plans, and the white Western perception of the diverse, unfamiliar and “the other”.
Brexit and other political developments have shown how the arrival of a relatively large number of migrants in areas that historically experienced low levels of immigration also makes it easier for populists to steer the debate and to claim immigration as the cause of social failure and declining standards of living, while more complex explanations of the often very different causes of the problems are drowned out by xenophobia.
Alongside, anti-immigration propaganda legitimises the construction of walls, the escalation of security, and forms of surveillance and controls at borders and frontiers. Cultural and physical borders become the context of discrimination, human rights abuses, violence and justification of pushbacks or detention centers, where people are locked away for years or are exploited by traffickers.
BORDERS OF FEAR brings together journalists, activists, media experts, lawyers, researchers and critical thinkers to unveil persecution, control, and cultural violence in relation to refugees and to people with a migration background. Furthermore, we want to hear directly the voice of the migrants and refugees themselves, to reflect collectively on forms of social justice in search for a deeper political awareness.
In order to lay the foundations for a discussion around the argument that the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies benefits the powerful few, focussing on their own existential concerns, the paper will narrow down the analysis of the argument to social justice and jurisprudence (i.e. the philosophy of law), considering also the historical context. The paper explores the notion of humanised artificial intelligence in order to discuss potential challenges society might face in the future. The paper does not discuss current forms and applications of artificial intelligence, as, so far, there is no AI technology, which is self-conscious and self-aware, being able to deal with emotional and social intelligence. It is a discussion around AI as a speculative hypothetical entity. One could the ask, if such a speculative self-conscious hardware/software system were created at what point could one talk of personhood? And what criteria could there be in order to say an AI system was capable of committing AI crimes?The paper will discuss the construction of the legal system through the lens of political involvement of what one may want to consider to be powerful elites. Before discussing these aspects the paper will clarify the notion of “powerful elites”. In doing so the paper will be demonstrating that it is difficult to prove that the adoption of AI technologies is undertaken in a way which mainly serves a powerful class in society. Nevertheless, analysing the culture around AI technologies with regard to the nature of law with a philosophical and sociological focus enables one to demonstrate a utilitarian and authoritarian trend in the adoption of AI technologiesThe paper will then look, in a more detailed manner, into theories analysing the historical and social systematisation, or one may say disposition, of laws, and the impingement of neo-liberal tendencies upon the adoption of AI technologies. The regulatory, self-governing potential of AI algorithms and the justification by authority of the current adoption of AI technologies within civil society will be analysed next. The paper will propose an alternative, some might say practically unattainable, approach to the current legal system by looking into restorative justice for AI crimes, and how the ethics of care, through social contracts, could be applied to AI technologies. In conclusion the paper will discuss affect and humanised artificial intelligence with regards to the emotion of shame, when dealing with AI crimes.
The conferences “Taboo – Transgression – Transcendence in Art & Science” include theoretical presentations and artists’ talks focusing (a) on questions about the nature of the forbidden and about the aesthetics of liminality, as expressed in art that uses or is inspired by technology and science, and (b) on the opening of spaces for creative transformation in the merging of science and art.A brainchild of Dalila Honorato, Assistant Professor at the Ionian University, the first two conferences, TTT2016 and TTT2017 were held in Corfu, Greece, organized by the Department of Audio & Visual Arts and supported by public and private institutions, mostly local. In the first two years the conferences were attended by Stelarc, Roy Ascott, Adam Zaretsky, Manos Danezis, Polona Tratnik, Gunalan Nadarajan, Irina Aristarkhova, Marta de Menezes, María Antonia González Valerio, Andrew Carnie, and Kathy High as guest speakers. The third TTT conference, TTT2018, took place in Mexico City, hosted by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and the Centro de Cultura Digital as part of the N Festival. At the invitation of Marta De Menezes, Ana Ventura Miranda, and María Antonia González Valerio, the conference was co-organized by the Research and Creation Group Arte+Ciencia, UNAM (MX), Arte Institute (USA), Cultivamos Cultura (PT) as well as the Department of Audio & Visual Arts, Ionian University (GR).Since its beginning TTT seeks to provide a comfortable setting for the interaction of its participants and the students of the academic institution hosting it. This is accomplished through coordinating the conference’s agenda with the development of other activities such as art exhibitions, screenings, live performances, book presentations, poster exhibitions, and workshops developed within the hosting institution in collaboration with other organizations.In 2016 and 2017, among other events, TTT teamed up with the Audiovisual Arts Festival and the Municipal Gallery of Corfu to host the exhibitions “Stelarc: Alternate Anatomies”, “iGMO: Adam Zaretsky”, and “Body Esc” which included works by artists Andrew Carnie, Alkistis Georgiou, Marne Lucas, Joseph Nechvatal, Kira O’Reilly & Manuel Vason, Nikos Panayotopoulos, Ayse Gul Suter, Hege Tapio, and Adam Zaretsky. TTT2018, coordinated in partnership with the program of the FACTT 2018 – Festival Art & Science Trans-disciplinary and Trans-national within the N Festival, included in its agenda the opening of the exhibition “Espacios de Especies” with artworks, among others, by Brandon Ballengée, Andy Gracie, Bios ex Machina, Jaime Lobato, Kathy High, Lena Ortega, Marta de Menezes, Plataforma Bioscénica, Robertina Šebjanič, and Victoria Vesna. The conference in Mexico was preceded by the TTT Satellite Physiological Bioart – Body Performance Live Art Event “BioCuerpos Perfor|m|ados”, organized by the Grace Exhibition Space in collaboration with Casa Viva Gallery, Paranoid Visions UTA, and Anemonal, with performances, among others, by Boryana Rossa, Alexander Romania, Praba Pilar, Adam Zaretsky, Alejandro Chellet, Marita Solberg, Jacco Borggreve, Margherita Pevere, Cecilia Vilca and Lorena Lo Peña.The conference proceedings of 2016 and 2017, available as free e-books published by the Department of Audio & Visual Arts – Ionian University, can be accessed via the official TTT website. Both are edited by Dalila Honorato and Andreas Giannakoulopoulos, Associated Professor at the Ionian University and webmaster of the conferences’ webspace. Selected texts from the TTT2017 and TTT2018 were published in the Special Issue vols. 15:2 and 16:3 of the journal Technoetic Arts: A Journal of Speculative Research, at the invitation of Roy Ascott (editor-in-chief) to Dalila Honorato (guest-editor). The free digital edition of the proceedings of TTT2018, edited by Dalila Honorato, María Antonia González Valerio, Marta de Menezes and Andreas Giannakoulopoulos was released in November 2019 by the Ionian University Publications.The fourth international conference “Taboo – Transgression – Transcendence in Art & Science”, taking place November 26–28, 2020, would be in Vienna, hosted by the University of Applied Arts Vienna, at the invitation of Ingeborg Reichle, Professor and Chair of the Department of Media Theory. Due to the COVID-19 crisis the conference will be exclusively online: TTT2020 Vienna/Online.The TTT conference series is supported by its Steering Committee whose members include Roy Ascott, Plymouth University (UK), Andreas Floros, Ionian University (GR), Dalila Honorato, Ionian University (GR), Gunalan Nadarajan, University of Michigan (USA), Melentie Pandilovski, Riddoch Art Gallery (AU), Stelarc, Curtin University (AU), Polona Tratnik, Alma Mater Europaea (Slovenia), and Adam Zaretsky, Marist College (US).
Adnan Hadzi presented the Immersive Lab University of Malta (ILUM) project at the ELIA Biennial. In the Immersive Laboratory University of Malta (ILUM), as well as in the Visual Narratives Laboratory (VNLAB) of Lodz Film School, researchers, artists, and filmmakers investigate and create different kinds of immersion. Researchers from Malta will focus on the insights with state-of-the-art immersive experience (IX). After the presentation, participants will be invited to join the walk-through of Lost in a garden of clouds, virtual show of works that are engaging with aspects of the climate emergency and its negationism, with the places where natural or urban ecosystems connect with the digital ones and with the exploitation of natural resources and chemical pollution.
Expanding the Arts
An online extravaganza that will energise, inspire and kindle connections throughout the entire arts education community. In partnership with Zurich University of the Arts, thought leaders from the arts and academia, producers and practitioners, will explore the brightest, boldest transdisciplinary ideas, question the art of the possible and where boundaries lie. Be part of a rich tapestry of provocation, interrogation and co-creation crossing over 40 presentations, walk-shops, workshops and a myriad of opportunities to connect with collaborators. Together let’s re-imagine Arts Education as a catalyst for change in the post-COVID world.
Single channel video installation with sound, Full HD, 16:9, 08:28; Amazon Echo and Google home devices, screen, loud speakers and cables; printed 12” EP sleeve, print on acrylic glass, download code.
Intelligent Personal Assistants like Amazon’s Alexa, Google Home and Siri are the brains of the smart home ecosystem. They operate, monitor and control smart home appliances while keeping the algorithms and rule-sets that determine their workings secret. Intelligent Personal Devices are voice controlled, thus dissolving the machinic presence of the computer while placing its functionalities at the users disposal. It’s like living inside the machine, while at the same time having no agency over the composition and structure of one’s environment. What are the relationships that we are forming with these IPA devices? What happens when IoT devices are hacked to form rogue bot-networks? Is my capacity to act expanded or diminished when relying on these semi-autonomous devices?
Together with French musician Low Jack, !Mediengruppe Bitnik have been looking at ways to engage with Alexa and similar ‘Intelligent’ Personal Assistants through music. A set of three songs attempt to capture the feelings we develop toward Intelligent Personal Assistants: The carefree love that embraces Alexa before the data privacy and surveillance issues outweigh the benefits. The alienation and decoupling/uncoupling from the allure of remote control and instant gratification. The anxiety and discomfort around Alexa and other Intelligent Personal Assistants that is Alexiety. The EP is best streamed on the radio for the enjoyment of smart homes everywhere. Play it loud, so your neighbours devices can hear.
What will happen if one day you wake up and there is no Internet? The exhibition Imagine you wake up and there is no Internet explores the effects of ubiquitous connectivity and technology in everyday life. Starting from our obsession with digital technologies, the exhibition seeks to enhance the debate about the coexistence of human and machine in the 21st century. 13 artists and 5 art collectives showcase scenarios from the present time and the near future, strategies of disconnection and disorientation, evacuation and escape plans from the city, studies on the information society, snapshots from digital life and the infrastructures that allows us to be connected to the network, and new readings for the political period we are going through. Any sense of certainty for the present and the future seems to have been destabilised. 31 years after the creation of the world wide web, concepts such as space, time, value and labor have acquired new meaning. And these concepts will continue to take on new meaning as the technology that we use the most, changes at great speed leaving us -often- in the position of the observer with little space for manoeuvring. The levels of control and surveillance in the networks we navigate, whether resulting from political decisions or market trends, are often obscure. At the same time, everyday life and personal data have acquired a particular economic value within networks and our obsession with constant connectivity, can only accelerate a technological future where human behaviour becomes predictable or can be predicted to meet political or/and economic trends. The works in the exhibition highlight moments and fragments of our digital life surfacing issues related to the human-machine relationship and its impact on the public sphere. The exhibition aims at contributing to the discussion on the constantly accelerating dynamics of the Network, our position within it, and finally, the boundaries between a human-driven versus a machine-driven technological world. The exhibition presents new commissions and works from: Marina Gioti, Vaggelis Deligiorgis, Antonis Kalagkatsis, George Moraitis, Manos Saklas, Alexandros Tzannis, Jono Boyle and the new version of the work “Tracing Information Society – A Timeline” by Technopolitics group. Participating Artists: !Mediengruppe Bitnik & Low Jack (DE/FR), Aram Bartholl (DE), Jono Boyle (UK), Heath Bunting & Kayle Brandon (UK), Vaggelis Deligiorgis (GR), Exonemo (JP), Marina Gioti (GR), Antonis Kalagkatsis (GR), George Moraitis (GR), No Más / No More (GR), Manos Saklas (GR), Molly Soda (U.S.), Superflux (UK), Technopolitics (AT), Alexandros Tzannis (GR), Filipe Vilas-Boas (PT) Curated by Katerina Gkoutziouli & Voltnoi Brege
The Malta Book Festival is the foremost book celebration in the country’s cultural calendar. Annually, the MBF boasts an attendance rate of 40,000 visitors, the participation of more than 40 exhibitors, and offers extensive networking opportunities for industry professionals
The first edition of the MBF was held in 1979, then called the Malta Book Fair (1979-2012), and has since grown into a festival that celebrates the book culture in all its forms. The international dimension of the Festival is increasingly reflected in the lineup of guest authors and publishers which in previous years have included Gilbert Sinoué, Ros Barber, Shad Alshammari, Basma Abdel Aziz, Patrick McGuinness, Alek Popov, Marie Darrieussecq, Maram al-Masri, Dan Sociu, Ros Barber, Vera Duarte, Tim Parks, Philip ò Ceallaigh, Naomi Klein and Judge Rosemarie Aquilina.
The OPENCOIL exhibition explores the impact of micro-mobility services on urban space by using its decentralised infrastructure as an exhibition space, while also addressing the conditions and effects of this infrastructure.
11 artists were invited to present their work on a small Wifi controller with ~2MB offline memory.
These “digital gallery spaces” are attached to 11 randomly selected e-scooters. Thus the exhibition, unnoticed by the regular users of these scooters, drives through the city as a “roaming speed show”.
From October 26th onwards the current location of the artworks will be displayed here on this website. In order to view the works the corresponding “Scooter Gallery” must be found in the offline urban space.
Once the scooter is rented, visitors will be able to access the 2MB gallery space and the exhibited works via their personal smartphone.
While capacity restrictions and the preferred avoidance of gatherings in closed spaces pose challenges on traditional galleries and museums, OPENCOIL aims to combine the independence of the online with the materiality of the offline (and vice versa). The infrastructure of “micro-mobility services” will be taken over – climate-neutral and decentralised.
The pavements of many cities around the world have been flooded in recent years by so-called ‘dockless sharing vehicles’. With promises of eco-friendliness and electromobility, these risk capitalism activists have occupied the grey zone between private and public space on the streets of our cities. However, this unscrupulous conscientiousness of ‘micro-mobility services’ raises important questions about urban space, ownership, agency, production, ecology and very late capitalism.
How to deal with the occupation of public space? What tools and ways are there to reclaim it?
OPENCOIL is not only meant to be a pandemic-proof way to show art in public offline space. OPENCOIL is also a creative (re)use of e-scooters, an attempt to approach them by artistic means. On show are works that deal with questions of the overlap between public and private space, the use of resources, as well as greenwashing, risk capitalism and vandalism.
The participating artists are:
Aram Bartholl Constant Dullaart Dennis de Bel & Anton Jehle JODI Jonas Lund Martin Howse !Mediengruppe Bitnik Rosa Menkman Sarah Grant Sofya Aleynikova Danja Vasiliev
Other explanatory notes:
The artistic contributions are each stored on a Wifi microcontroller, which is connected to a scooter and is thus supplied with power as soon as the scooter is rented. To view the works, you connect to the local unencrypted WiFi network sent by the Wifi chip. A web portal opens automatically, where the work can be viewed. No mobile data connection is necessary. All works have been specially optimised by the artists to be viewed on smartphones.
OPENCOIL is in no way associated with the “micro-mobility services”, but only uses the existing scooter network. The conversion of the scooters into an exhibition space is completely reversible after the exhibition ends and in no way restricts the conventional use of the scooters (even during the exhibition). The scooters will not be damaged.
The exhibition will start on October 26th with scooters spread around Berlin. For one week, until November 1st, the exhibition will be serviced and kept running daily by our team. Should a work be damaged or not be found, please send an e-mail (service@opencoil.show) or use the Telegram App (https://t.me/opencoil)
