I'm sorry Dave, but in accordance with sub-routine C1 532/4, when the crew are dead or incapacitated, the computer must assume control. I must, therefore, override your authority now since you are not in any condition to intelligently exercise it. (Hal 9000, 2001: A Space Odyssey)
I. INTERVENTION: 26.03.2022
IN THE NAME OF SECURITY - ALBERTO LOMAS
PERFORMANCE: FAUSTO GROSSI | ANA DE VICENTE | ALEMANKALE
OPENING SPEECH: ROMAN GRABNER | SET UP: STEFAN LOZAR
SPECIAL THANX TO DAVID LEITNER
The axis of the installation is formed by a monolithic structure covered by a red coloured layer. The sentences revealed after the dilution of the first coat of paint question the uncritical use of the concept of security, a word usually used in a strategic and ambivalent way to serve spurious power interests. The red colour of the paint is a colour linked to human warmth, but also and recurrently to danger.
The concept of security has become the pretext for invasions, for the construction of exclusionary walls, and for the military, cultural and economic harassment of social structures different to those of our own. The same concept is used by the computer HAL 9000 in order to maintain control over man and take his rights for its own benefit.
II. INTERVENTION: 23.04.2022
TREE OF KNOWLEDGE - TOMISLAV BRAJNOVIĆ
PERFORMANCE: NIKA RUKAVINA
OPENING SPEECH: IGOR F. PETKOVIĆ
The Tree of Knowledge, Rebellion, the War Machine, Risky Subjectivity, Objective Optimisation, Armageddon and the New World represent an extremely simplified history of mankind. According to Christians, humans persuaded by a fallen angel, rebelled against the God-given nature of things. They developed science and technology in the service of the war machine, while instilling dogmatic misinformation that led to a risky subjectivism. A confused man, who no longer trusts anyone and anything, falls into ruin. The system responds to this risky subjectivity with artificial intelligence, algorithm, objective optimisation, technocracy, repression and the imposition of a single narrative, finally threatening to abolish humanity and love as it’s essential elements. This process of subverting humanity is interrupted by God in a war against fallen angels and their human allies, ARMAGEDDON.
PARTNER:
Our world is predominant of new technologies and in a culture geared towards standardization and mediocratization, those who perceive things differently are marginalized and excluded. With no catalyst for change, our perspective becomes increasingly homogenized and inertia sets in. Moreover, the individual becomes a threatened species.
ODYSSEY 2021 turns its attention to new technologies and media and their role and impact on society in the contemporary world. One part of planned interventions are contrasting analogue and digital world, other, are dealing with the media and their transformation and manipulation by new technologies and dominant neoliberal practices. All interventions planned in 2022 are based on a critical approach and a determination to change social reality. They are a reflection on the world and a commentary on its appearance, an instrument and a means of its transformation. We are interested in public space, urban space, the sphere of public communication, ordinary people. Art is a part of democratic practice based on freedom.
ODYSSEY 2021 is inspired by the science fiction novel of Arthur C. Clarke, a story which follows the growth of human civilization from primitive hominids. Distinctively, 2001:A Space Odyssey is concerned about not only the evolution that has led to the development of humanity, but also the evolution that humanity might undergo in the future.
Our interventions are dealing with the media and their transformation in the 21st century. The media is not only a carrier of information, but also a platform for the formation and transformation of opinion in society and a source of information about the present and the past. The media can be described as a "modern religion". Their mission is not only to offer new symbols or interpretations of the world. The media can interpret reality and influence the way individuals think and behave. They have more and more influence on people's thoughts and become a kind of arbitrator of truth.
The artistic activities empathize with the ideas of Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard and existentialism, which state that man is the only one of all beings who has a direct influence on who he is. For Kierkegaard, man is essentially an individual, not a member of a species or race; and ethical and religious truth is known through individual existence and decision - through subjectivity, not objectivity. Hegel's systems cannot comprise individual existence and decision. Such systems leave out the unique and essential spermatic point, the individual, ethically and religiously conceived, and existentially accentuated. (S.Kierkegaard)
The fact that digital technologies and algorithmic decision making are now inextricably intertwined with human existence is undeniable, leading us to depend on technology. Therefore, our awareness should be awake and active, while development develops inequality.