[Metalab] Opening 3.July, 2013: Faceless Exhibition, Documenting Surveillance / Artistic Bokeh Vienna

[Matthias Tarasiewicz]

*THE CULTURE OF SURVEILLANCE AND THE POETICS OF OBSERVATION TECHNOLOGIES*

part of the exhibition "faceless" ( http://goo.gl/ZlmFl )
http://artisticbokeh.com <http://www.artisticbokeh.com>

*Opening: 3.July, 2013 19:00h, MuseumsQuartier Vienna, AUSTRIA*

*Fotos:*
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artisticbokeh/sets/72157634440642553/with/9190519391/
*Folder: *http://goo.gl/Q42a1

Surveillance work can be challenging - according to the U.S. Department of
Labor it includes stress, danger, confrontations with angry or upset
individuals, physical discomfort, lethal hazards, fieldwork in high crime
areas, monotony, constant alertness to threatening situations, irregular
hours, and a heavy toll on private life, among other risks. The
surveillance worker has to possess "great self-discipline to control
unproductive ethical impulses to look away" since the "humanity of the
surveillance worker has always been a weakness of surveillance systems"
(Maxwell, 2005). Who are those people and employees observing us in all
possible situations of our lives? Surveillance workers are "in reality,
reflexive and knowledgeable social actors, involved in a variety of sense
and decision making activities" (Ball, 2005), though they are people with
diverse backgrounds and individual biographies that are rarely recorded and
often disregarded in history.

*(1) Artistic Bokeh Showroom: Documenting Surveillance*
Installation, opening with the Faceless exhibition on Wednesday 3rd July
2013

The exhibition-booth of the initiative "artistic bokeh" features an
abandoned surveillance room showing displaying leftovers of an active
operation - even the technology is still in working condition. The work
environment, the tools and individual (personal) items of the surveyor
produce different narratives of what might have happened, while at the same
time showing small but significant flaws in the story. The technology and
the devices used might not fit together from their times - what might look
as flaws in the staging at first sight unfolds as an act of distortion of
history, which represents a meta-narration forcing a critical observation
of facts and fiction.

*(2) >Asymmetric Love Nr. 2<*
Public installation, viewable from July 2013

The installation >Asymmetric Love Nr. 2< by Addie Wagenknecht and Stefan
Hechenberger was created to mimic a familiar and comfortable iconic baroque
chandelier composed out of surveillance cameras.

*(3) Performance "Anonymity" by Wagenknecht and Hechenberger *
*2013-07-03 19:00, MuseumsQuartier Vienna*

By censoring the eyes, we censor a essential part of our expression,
becoming 'faceless' and anonymous in nature. Six hundred black glasses will
be distributed to the visitors opening night and documented by ARISTIC
BOKEH. Addie Wagenknecht and Stefan Hechenberger developed “Anonymity” in
New York in 2007, and adapted it for the opening of the exhibition FACELESS
part I and part II.

Artistic Bokeh is an initiative to qualitatively explore, map and extend
the electrosphere with parameters of artistic research and development. The
initiative is part of the project Artistic Technology Research at the
University of Applied Arts, Vienna.

http://artisticbokeh.com <http://www.artisticbokeh.com>
http://facebook.com/artisticbokeh
http:/twitter.com/artisticbokeh <http://twitter.com/artisticbokeh>
http://twitter.com/atechres
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