Statement:

who are we who’s watching us are we watched with or against are we alright is there a danger who’s watching us who’s at the controls are we being controlled who’s controlling us where are we going can we get out where are our borders do we need borders can we escape I haven’t got eyes in the back of my head but someone else does I tried to get out I couldn’t get out they couldn’t get in to join me I’ve got a card have you got a card can you get in shall we stay out we can’t get through who’s inside it’s under control we’ve all been locked in

By Peter Kennard and Cat Phillips

"Control Room 2", by Peter Kennard and Cat Phillips

The exhibition:

EMBEDDED ART

Concept
In 2009, the first exhibition of the year at Berlin´s Akademie der Künste will be devoted to a topical, highly political theme. EMBEDDED ART looks at the threats to unrestricted public life following the 9/11 attacks and the attacks in Madrid, Moscow and London. Security issues in the 21st century have an impact on the day-to-day life of millions of people. Since terrorism has reached major European and US cities that were once considered safe, citizens have been subject to increasing state control. To ensure comprehensive physical, political and national integrity, security has become a new ideology, the ´mantra´ of civilised society.

For EMBEDDED ART, the curators Olaf Arndt, Moritz von Rappard, Janneke Schönenbach and Cecilia Wee of artist´s group ´BBM´ have commissioned international artists to respond to the current situation. EMBEDDED ART will only show works realised on location or against a background of research into future security. The diverse works focus on the conflicting fields of terrorism and terror, security and control. Broadly speaking, the artists can be said to explore the subject in the following three ways: investigating the validity of ´new threats´, the predominantly technical reactions to these threats, and their resulting impact on society. EMBEDDED ART is the working principle, ´art in the name of security´ is the theme of the exhibition, a provocative phrase which itself is an artistic comment on one of the core questions of global development.

EMBEDDED ART also reflects the ambivalent relationship between artists and the state military machinery. So-called ´war artists´ were dispatched to the front for the first time by the Australian government during World War I to capture the soldier´s experience directly at the scene of events. Even as far back as 1944, ´military science fiction´ authors collaborated with US army defence engineers to design the ´cyber-soldier´ in preparation for a Third World War. Today, the dispatch of ´war artists´ in the ´war on terror´ continues as a military practice. Artists in their capacity as researchers of the imaginary perhaps pave the way to a new reality, their fantasies selectively exploited for the development of new security strategies. EMBEDDED ART, conversely, introduces artists who are intent on enlightenment, not affirmation.

The exhibition venue – the Akademie building at Pariser Platz – is directly linked to the exhibition theme. The Pariser Platz, which was still a symbol for the end of the Cold War during the late 1990s, has become a security perimeter for international politics since 9/11. With its embassies, banks, a luxury hotel and architecture reminiscent of modern strongholds, it is located between the new hub of political power and the Holocaust memorial, hence the square is potentially one of the most-at-risk and most closely guarded, locations in the German Federal Republic. EMBEDDED ART´s exhibition concept incorporates Pariser Platz’s unique location, thereby creating a further level in the interaction of artistic imagination and stark reality, the project´s focal point.

The Exhibition
With more than 30 commissioned works, the exhibition not only highlights many of the pertinent issues relating to global security, it also offers fascinating insight into current trends in contemporary art practice, featuring artists from Germany, Great Britain, Japan, South Africa, Italy and Slovenia showing visual art, video art, media art, photography, music, and sound art.

The video artists Korpys & Löffler film a Rhineland-Palatinate-police riot squad workshop, where officers are instructed in the use of the TASER electronic control device. Painter Moritz ® portrays ´Five Peace Monsters´, the protagonists of new technologies for political control. Photographer Christina Zück travels to Karachi, where she records the ´psycho-geography´ of a site on the ´axis of evil´, collaborating with the Pakistani photographer Zahid Hussein. British dubstep pioneer Steve Goodman (aka Kode 9) in collaboration with sound artist Toby Heys illustrate the physical sensations of future sonic weaponry with their installation ´Unsound´. Peter Kennard mounts a 20-metre-wide collage on command centres – ´War Rooms´. Media artist and music producer Paul B. Davis reworks legendary ´Popcorn´-composer Gershon Kingsley´s ´Security-Song´.

The influence of EMBEDDED ART will also reach beyond the Akademie’s walls into Berlin’s public spaces. Posters designed by six internationally renown graphic artists will spread the word all over the city. Works by video artists will be shown on a 60-square-metre display on the façade of the Akademie building. The performance artist Richard Dedomenici will stage interventions on Pariser Platz.

Exhibition Presentation
The exhibition format itself reflects the central issue of security, enabling the visitor to live the experience. Only projections of the works, transmitted from the hi-tech secure basement of the building using the latest surveillance technology, will be seen in the Akademie´s exhibition halls. The visitors can choose to visit projections of the artworks in the exhibition halls for a small entrance fee, the originals can only be viewed on a guided tour of the secure area, accompanied by security personnel.

Ancillary Events
The exhibition will be accompanied by events, guided tours, debates and movie screenings. Each Friday, artists and guest speakers will discuss the exhibition in the temporary bar ´Bar zur inneren Sicherheit´ on the top floor of the Akademie overlooking Pariser Platz and Brandenburg Gate.

Publication
A comprehensive catalogue published by Argo Books, featuring specially commissioned essays, will accompany the exhibition.

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