UNVEILING OF THE PUBLIC MONUMENT
Grad Tivoli, Pod turnom 3
_ Ljubljana
_ Slovenia
Mister Nahtingal
Performance starts at 9 pm
Prijateljeva ulica 2, Ljubljana, Slovenia
AcDcWc
Stari trg 21, Ljubljana, Slovenia
AcDcWc
Kidričeva ulica 43, Koper, Slovenia
Image Fulgurator
Kersnikova 4, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Closed Circuit (Who, What, Where, When, Why and How #2)
AcDcWc
Vrhovčeva 1a, Novo mesto, Slovenia
Signature
Library Ravne na Koroškem
Slovenia
H220
Experimental New Media Performance
Free entrance
Kersnikova 4, Ljubljana, Slovenia
The Kandinsky Collective
Amy Suo Wu
The Kandinsky Collective
SOLO EXHIBITION
Aksioma | Project Space, Ljubljana
18 January – 17 February 2017
In 2013, the CIA declassified WWI invisible ink recipes from 100 years ago. The disclosure was based on the belief that these methods no longer pose a threat to national security due to advancing digital encryption technology rendering invisible ink obsolete. But are such old techniques as innocuous as they’re considered? In light of the fact that a majority of people conduct their communications digitally, making most of their online activities trackable, recordable and commodifiable, perhaps resorting to analog paper and invisible ink may be indeed safer. The ‘dumb’ medium of paper does not inadvertently leak your information behind the scenes, and for the very fact that it’s considered unthreatening makes it an interesting alternative. After all, in the last scene of Citizenfour (2014), Laura Poitras’ documentary on Edward Snowden, journalist Glenn Greenwald resorts to paper and pen to communicate privately.
Invisible ink is a form of secret writing also known as steganography, it is the art and science of being hidden in plain sight, which has been the subject of Amy Suo Wu’s research Tactics and Poetics of Invisibility for the last two years. In her research she has been working on resuscitating analogue steganography as a tactic to evade digital surveillance because it is potentially more effective over digital cryptography due to its subversive offline simplicity, and possibility a more democratic and accessible solution for those who are less technically privileged. Her research project also aims to revive obsolete, low-tech and forgotten media, encouraging alternative and experimental modes of communication and (co)creating tactical and poetic ways of communicating as a way to protect ourselves from surveillance while still being visible to our peers. As a part of her ongoing research, for the upcoming exhibition The Kandinsky Collective, Amy Suo Wu will use speculative fiction as a strategy to shed light on the discourse that surrounds her analogue steganography research; privacy, surveillance and the instrumentalisation of art and graphic design in media activism. Departing from the rumour that during WWII the artist Wassily Kandinksy was recruited by the British Intelligence to smuggle secret communication by encoding it into his abstract, systematic and symbolic artworks, The Kandinsky Collectiveexhibition will explore the subversive potential of using the formal language of art as a means to embed hidden messages. Set in the near future when privacy has become a crime, the exhibition is in fact a staged exhibition of privacy activists posing as a contemporary art collective, where they co-opt abstract art as a cover to form an underground communication channel.
ARTIST TALK
Amy Suo Wu
Tactics and Poetics of Invisibility
ALUO uho
The Academy of Fine Arts and Design of the University of Ljubljana, 2017
PUBLICATION
Florian Cramer
Hiding in Plain Sight. Amy Suo Wu’s The Kandinsky Collective
PostScriptUM #28
The 15th century Voynich Manuscript, Kandinsky’s abstract painting with a secret encoded message, militant jihadists using porn images for hidden communication and most recently computer malware embedding virus code into images on infected computers (and perhaps this text too) are examples of steganography, which can be also found in Amy Suo Wu’s works…
AUTHOR
Born in China, raised in Sydney and based in Rotterdam, Amy Suo Wu is an artist, designer and educator researching how technology, language and media shape people and vice versa. Her research based hybrid practice is an exploration into how to activate and intervene in critical and playful ways. Since 2013 she has been working at the Willem de Kooning Academy (Dutch Academy of art and design based in Rotterdam) teaching Design Research, Concept and Image in the Graphic Design department and the Hacking minor to students across all disciplines. In the same year, she co-founded Eyesberg, a (graphic) design studio motivated by conceptual and experimental approaches. She has also facilitated and organized zine making workshops and festivals in the Netherlands.
Her work has been shown at ISEA Istanbul, Mine Yours Ours festival Croatia, Gallery 12 New Media Hub Belgrade, 55th Venice Biennale, Gogbot Enschede, SIGN Groningen, TENT Rotterdam, Showroom MAMA Rotterdam, Art Rotterdam, WORM Rotterdam and V2_ Rotterdam.
CREDITS
Production: Aksioma – Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana, 2017
Artistic Director: Janez Janša
Producer: Marcela Okretič
Executive Producer: Sonja Grdina
Assistant: Tim Alexander Braakman
Public Relations: Urša Purkart
Technician: Valter Udovičić
Documentation: Jure Goršič
Artist talk organised in collaboration with The Academy of Fine Arts and Design of the University of Ljubljana
Supported by: the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and theMunicipality of Ljubljana
The More of Us There Are, the Faster We Will Reach Our Goal
Malmö, Sweden
The More of Us There Are, the Faster We Will Reach Our Goal (SLOVENE PREMIERE)
V okviru mednarodnega filmskega festivala LIFFE
Ljubljana, Slovenia
The More of Us There Are, the Faster We Will Reach Our Goal
Vienna, Austria
The Abstraction of Nature
WED, 19 February 2020
Aksioma | Project Space, Ljubljana
The Labour of Making Labour Disappear
Presentation in the framework of the round table Art Making in the Age of Automation.
Moderator: Domenico Quaranta
WED, 15 January 2020
Moderna galerija Ljubljana
How does the increasing automation of labour affect artistic practice, on all the levels of content, process and form? How is it affecting the present society and our vision of the future? What can art do to deal with the increasing fragmentation of human labour and its disappearance from visibility, and give it back its presence and dignity? Taking off from their own work and from the statements of other participants in the symposium, the artists involved in the round table will attempt to offer an answer to these and other questions.
Entreprecariat
Book presentation
WED, 15 January 2020
Moderna galerija Ljubljana
Entreprecariat (Krisis Publishing, 2018; Onomatopee, 2019) explores and maps out the current entrepreneurial ideology from a precarious perspective. The Entreprecariat indicates a reality where change is natural and healthy, whatever it may bring. A reality populated by motivational posters, productivity tools, mobile offices and self-help techniques. A reality in which a mix of entrepreneurial ideology and widespread precarity is what regulates professional social media, online marketplaces for self-employment and crowdfunding platforms for personal needs. The result? A life in permanent beta, with sometimes tragic implications.
Notes on Post-Work
WED, 15 January 2020
Moderna galerija Ljubljana
Most of the academic and political discourse on post-work has focused on the relationship between automation and free time. That is, it has posited that automation has the emancipatory potential to free us all from work: to reduce necessary working hours or at least to devote ourselves to more intellectually rewarding jobs (immaterial labour). What is not fully convincing about this approach is that it is grounded in a hierarchical separation between machines and humans. What is missing is the acknowledgment of the human infrastructure that sustains automation and artificial intelligence. The invisible, precarious, alienated, low-paid and offshored workforce that automation requires in order to function properly. These workers and their tasks are the focus of this talk.
We live in a world where technological advances and their effects are becoming more and more an issue involving of all of us, whether we live in the western or eastern hemisphere, in the global north or south. Rapid aging of the population, strategic functioning of the economic superpowers, ground-breaking technological applications, marginalization and exclusion of social groups, tensions between governments and non-governmental organizations, local and international conflicts, climate change, environmental problems and new healthcare challenges pose civilization challenges for mankind which require thorough consideration and active participation. New technologies, with their emancipatory neutrality, offer on the one hand the possibility of empowering civil society, and on the other increased control and concentration of power and capital.
We all face challenges which determine our future and the future of our children, so active participation in the konS project means promoting visionary, unexpected, different ideas allowing us to see beyond the determinism of rationalist western science and economics. Through our activity, we can encourage, inspire and empower decision-makers, scientists, engineers and economists in their actions that are inclusive, socially responsible and sustainable.
The konS – Platform for Contemporary Investigative Art project aims to promote breakthrough artistic creations and establish a production environment where art ideation can be translated into recommendations for the innovation of better, safer, more sustainable and ethical products and services. By promoting excellence in artwork, we want to create an inspiring environment for creators of the future among children and young people, and for decision-makers and professional stakeholders involved in the creation of new technological applications and social innovations. The project aims to grow an active network of producers of contemporary investigative art, which through its transdisciplinary activities enables communities and the economy access to more sustainable, safer and more ethical societal and technological innovations.
Partners in the konS project consortium are Kersnikova Institute, Projekt Atol Institute, Aksioma – Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljudmila Association, CONA Institute for Contemporary Art Procesing (all Ljubljana), University of Nova Gorica – School of Arts, Velenje Youth Center, LokalPatriot (Novo mesto), Youth Centre for Cultural Activities Maribor.
konS – Platform for Contemporary Investigative Art is a project chosen on the public call for the selection of the operations “Network of Investigative Art and Culture Centres”. The investment is co-financed by the Republic of Slovenia and by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union.
Portraying the Invisible Crowd
WED, 14 January 2020
The Academy of Fine Arts and Design of the University of Ljubljana
Throughout history, portraying workers has often been a step into recognising their existence, allowing them the dignity to be considered as a subject, as well as the representatives of a “class”. Digging into the research for the show, Hyperemployment’s curator Domenico Quaranta will offer a tour through various artistic efforts to portray online workers, from Chinese Gold Farmers to scan-ops, from gig workers to online content moderators.
Oblomo
Presentation in the framework of the round table Art Making in the Age of Automation.
Moderator: Domenico Quaranta
WED, 15 January 2020
Moderna galerija, Ljubljana
How does the increasing automation of labour affect artistic practice, on all the levels of content, process and form? How is it affecting the present society and our vision of the future? What can art do to deal with the increasing fragmentation of human labour and its disappearance from visibility, and give it back its presence and dignity? Taking off from their own work and from the statements of other participants in the symposium, the artists involved in the round table will attempt to offer an answer to these and other questions.