Drone Shadow (2009) by James Bridle. Photo: Anatole Serexhe, 2015.
“Knowledge is power. And power is possessed especially by whoever controls the flow of information.”
(from Global Control and Censorship exhibition concept)
Marking the centennial anniversary of independent Latvia and Baltic countries, this year’s festival takes up the call by becoming a space for artistic interventions and hot-button conversations addressing the complexity and future of digital society, especially with regards to ubiquitous surveillance and data privacy.
Keynote Speakers:
Bruce STERLING / science fiction author, WIRED journalist, critic and futurist / US
Bernhard SEREXHE / art historian, expert for electronic and digital art, author, curator / DE
Jasmina TESANOVIC / author, feminist, political activist, and filmmaker / US-RS
Mauro MARTINO / artist, designer, inventor and educator / Visual AI Lab, IBM / US
This year’s festival featuring exhibition is a collaboration between Goethe Institut, ZKM and RIXC; titled – Global Control and Censorship, the exhibition aims to expand the public debate about ever-present surveillance and censorship methods.
The festival conference titled Global Control, is a part of Latvia’s 100th anniversary program and it takes place in the framework of Creative Europe’s supported RISK CHANGE project. The Global Control conference will investigate issues from three main perspectives. The first, “hybrid war”, is particularly relevant in the context of the Baltic states independence celebration year, when continuous “post-truth” propaganda in media and tensions around military training in this region are on the rise. We also discuss the issue of “fake news”, its consequences on global politics, and its impacts on individual nations.
The second perspective deals with “surveillance and immersion”; as we all are under surveillance, we need to become aware of both the enormous scale of “watching”, as well as the potential “depth” of watching due to the development of immersive technologies. The third, concerns “the next big privacy” issue, discussed from a “data politics” perspective – What is the future of our social media? How can we feel safe about our data we publish on the internet today?, and How to maintain trust with the next generation?
These are just a few of critical topics that will be critically discussed and explored in Global Control festival through a series of public keynotes, artistic interventions, thematic panel presentations, open public discussions, performances, and participatory workshops. The broad festival program will be closing with the Swamp Radio and Acoustic Surveillance program, featuring artistic interventions and immersive sound installations in Kemeri Bog.
FESTIVAL PROGRAM
Thursday, September 13, 2018
17.00 – Opening Keynote Lectures: Bruce STERLING, Bernhard SEREXHE
19.00 – Festival and “Global Control and Censorship” Exhibition Opening
Friday, September 14, 2018
10.00 – Global Control Conference, Day 1: Plenary and Panel Sessions
17.00 – Public Keynote Lectures: Jasmina TESANOVIC, Mauro MARTINO
20.00 – Satellite Program: Performances and Installations / Tallinas Street Quarter
Saturday, September 15, 2018
10.00 – Global Control Conference, Day 2: Plenary and Panel Sessions
16.00 – Swamp Radio and Acoustic Surveillance: Artistic Interventions in Kemeri Bog
CONFERENCE
Open Fields 2018: Global Control
September 13 – 15, 2018, The National Library of Latvia, Conference Center
The Open Fields conference is the annual gathering in Riga, Latvia, for international scholars and artists working at the intersection of arts, humanities and science. This year’s conference with the title Global Control will gather together more then 80 participants – artists, researchers, scientists, technology innovators, designers, theoreticians and activists from 25 countries world-wide.
Themes:
- hybrid war, fake news and post-truth
- the next big privacy, data politics and social visibility
- surveillance, immersion and VR/AR environments
- brainwaves science and neural networks
- AI, network visualisation and data tracing
- global information space and local media ecosystems
- acoustics and espionage, from radio to social media
Selected Speakers:
Sebastian Althoff, Gillian Baldwin, Arno Baltin, Martyna Bikulčiūtė, Kathryn Blair, Niels Bonde, Jade Boyd, Mez Breeze, Kim Burgas, David Schmüdde, Giovanna Casimiro, Budhaditya Chattopadhyay, Oksana Chepelyk, Cultura Plasmic Inc., Marc DaCosta, Noemi Diamantini, Ariana Dongus, Pascal Glissmann, Andreas Henrich, Olivier Arcioli, Pascal Glissmann, Selena Kimball, Mitch Goodwin, Matthew Graydon, Jasmine Guffond, Varvara Guljajeva, Haakon Haraldsen Roen, Benjamin Bocquillon, Stephanie Hoebeke, Stefano Nichele, Kristin Bergaust, Heidi Dahlsveen, Henrik Lieng, Bianca Hlywa, Ricardo Iglesias, Mark Jarzombek, Zachary Kaiser, Raivo Kelomees, Stacey Koosel, Leily Khatibi, Roya Ebtehaj, Yi Liu, Cleia Dantas, Fan Feng, Andrew Blanton, Korsten & De Jong, Karla Kracht, Andrés Beladiez, Björn Lengers, Marcel Karnapke, Robert B. Lisek, Richard Lowenberg, Karolina Majewska, Nikita Mazurov, Conor Mcgarrigle, Richard Merritt, Salvador Miranda, Daniela Mitterberger, Tiziano Derme, Maciej Ożóg, Jakub Palm, Ellen Pearlman, Daniel Pillis, Dani Ploeger, Elke Reinhuber, The Urban Beautician, Tivon Rice, Stefan Riebel, Vincenzo Sansone, Tim Schwartz, Julian Scordato, Pablo De Soto, Aarti Sunder, Frank Theys, Brad Todd, Monica Tolia, MOON Martina Zelenika, The Miha Artnak, Colette Tron, Violeta Vojvodic Balaz, Waiwai/Hiuwai Chan, John Brumley
Organizers:
The Open Fields conference is organized by RIXC in collaboration with Liepaja University’s Art Research Lab and Renewable Futures Network.
This year, the Open Fields conference is taking place in the framework of the Centenary of the Republic of Latvia Celebration Programme.
Conference Proceedings
The selected papers will be published in the next volume of the Acoustic Space, double blind peer-reviewed journal & book series. The call for papers will be announced shortly after the conference.