Aarhus – Berlin – Montreal – Vienna – Liverpool
The Human Futures project invites European and Canadian citizens to share their memories and visions through participatory cultural projects. The goal for Human Futures is to change the view off the open space from a solid construction, to a construction that is permanently evolving. This goal is reached through the participating artist, working as innovative thinkers that redefines and produces new realities, with the outcome of encouraging the citizens in knowledge sharing and their local community.
Four European and four Canadian artists will travel to the participating cities and develop tools and scenarios to actively include the public audiences of different cities in platforms for exchange and discussion. Together with the local citizens, they will explore new modes for sharing and collectivity in each of the participating cities:
Liverpool: Sharing in the Cognitive Space
Vienna: Sharing in the Living Space
Berlin: Sharing in the Urban Space
Aarhus: Sharing in the Digital Space
Montreal: Sharing in the World City
The two works selected by Susa Pop//Berlin is:
Smashy Face by Michel de Broin
Smashy Face consists of a wall installation in the form of a 16 by 16 grid, containing 256 incandescent light bulbs. This is used as the canvas for an exhibition, where a smiley face is drawn by smashing some of the light bulbs. In this way the installation will not be in the need of external power to smile.
Killyourphone by Aram Bartholl
In the Killyourphone workshop participants are invited to “kill their phone”, by making their own signal blocking phone pouch. The pouch is made from copper or silver coated cloth or fleece especially developed for electromagnetic protection, which makes the phone unable to send and receive signals. The participants can make their own design, and test out the different materials and their blocking abilities.
With Smashing Faces, Michel de Broin as the artist, will challenge the citizens view of “dead” technology and how this can still be used as a means of communication, referring to the historic communication through engraving rocks. The internet is ubiquitous due to the nowadays high-capacity bandwidth and mobile devices that keep us continually connected to multiple layers of reality. Killyourphone will enlighten the citizens in understanding the way technology spreads information, even when it is assumingly turned off. With this knowledge the citizens are able to respond to and control whether the technology should be granted this ability to communicate or not.
The participating artist both approach the media architecture with a critical eye, engaging through destruction and critical reflection. Although the start point is destruction, the end result turns out to be positive – a smiley face and the citizens possibility to control their privacy.
The Human Futures exhibition will travel around to the participating cities, with its first stop at MAB, Aarhus, Denmark from 20.-22. november 2014 at Godsbanen
For exhibition program click here
For workshop registration click here
Later exhibitions:
Bootcamp Montreal, May 2015
Projection Parcours Montreal, October 2015
Exposition Liverpool, November 2015
Curated by Susa Pop