

THE EXHIBITION

March 11 – April 3, 2015

Škuc Gallery, Stari trg 21, Ljubljana, Slovenia WITH: Anna Adamolo, Anonymous, Billboard Liberation Front, Burning Man Festival, Cacophony Society, Janez Janša, Janez Janša, Janez Janša, Julian Oliver, Laura Poitras, Les Liens Invisibles, Luther Blissett, Mail Art, Neoism, Peng! Collective, Suicide Club, Telekommunisten, Trevor Paglen.





Networked Disruption is an exhibition and a series of events produced by Aksioma and Drugo more in collaboration with several partners, curated by Tatiana Bazzichelli, and hosted by Škuc Gallery in Ljubljana and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka. This exhibition is centred on the concept of “Networked Disruption”, as an opportunity to show new possible routes of social and political action in the line of disruption. This exhibition focuses on the mutual interferences between business and disruption, by shedding light simultaneously on heterogeneous practices of hackers, artists, networkers, whistleblowers, activists and entrepreneurs who engage deeply with network activity.

The increasing commercialisation of sharing and networking contexts since the middle of 2000s is transforming the meaning of art and that of business. What were once marginal practices of networking in underground hacker and artistic contexts have in recent years become a core business for many information technology companies and social media enterprises. In Bazzichelli’s analysis, art intertwines with disruption beyond dialectical oppositions, leading to a discovery of subliminal and distributed strategies, which emerge from within the capitalistic systems, or act within it. In the exhibition and seminar, she involves actors who directly engage with hacktivism, art, civil liberties and social networking exposing contradictions of capitalistic logics and power systems. Such interventions hijack the logic of business itself, appropriating and détourning it by operating disruption. The challenge is to collectively rethink oppositional hacktivist and artistic strategies within the framework of (social) networking, information economy and increasingly invasive corporations and government agencies. The Networked Disruption exhibition is based on Bazzichelli’s book Networked Disruption: Rethinking Oppositions in Art, Hacktivism and the Business of Social Networking (DARC Press, The Digital Aesthetics Research Centre of Aarhus University, 2013).

Bazzichelli’s hypothesis is that mutual interferences between art, hacktivism and the business of social networking have changed the meaning and contexts of political and technological criticism. Hackers and artists have been active agents in business innovation, while at the same time also undermining business. Artists and hackers use disruptive techniques of networking within the framework of social media, opening up a critical perspective towards business to generate unpredictable feedback and unexpected reactions; business enterprises apply disruption as a form of innovation to create new markets and network values, which are often just as unpredictable. Bazzichelli proposes the concept of the Art of Disrupting Business as a form of artistic practice within the business field of information technology. The artworks and collective projects are conceptually and visually interlinked in the exhibition spaces, which constitutes a network of networks. By applying the strategy of “working from within”, some sections of the show are conceptualised in collaboration with people deeply involved in the networks under scrutiny: Vittore Baroni (Mail Art), Florian Cramer (Neoism), Gabriella Coleman (Anonymous), John Law (Suicide Club and Cacophony Society), Andrea Natella (The Luther Blissett Project) and members of the Anna Adamolo network. This choice reflects the perspective that a new methodology of curating a research should open a metaphorical (and physical) space to encourage and provoke feedback loops among theory and practice, and among subjects and objects of analysis. The result is a constellation of networking practices, which aims to actualise – and to question – the notion of “direct participation” itself.



Tatiana Bazzichelli

Tatiana Bazzichelli is a curator and researcher, author of the books Networked Disruption (2013), Networking (2008), and co-editor of the book Disrupting Business (2013). She is director of the Disruption Network Lab, an experimental curatorial project on art, hacktivism, and disruption, based in Berlin. She was programme curator at the transmediale festival from 2011 to 2014, initiating the year-round reSource transmedial culture project, and was a Post-Doctoral researcher at the Centre for Digital Cultures, Leuphana University of Lüneburg. is a curator and researcher, author of the books Networked Disruption (2013), Networking (2008), and co-editor of the book Disrupting Business (2013). She is director of the Disruption Network Lab, an experimental curatorial project on art, hacktivism, and disruption, based in Berlin. She was programme curator at the transmediale festival from 2011 to 2014, initiating the year-round reSource transmedial culture project, and was a Post-Doctoral researcher at the Centre for Digital Cultures, Leuphana University of Lüneburg.



CREDITS

Curated by: Tatiana Bazzichelli

Head of production: Janez Janša



Artistic directors: Janez Janša (Aksioma), Vladimir Vidmar (Škuc Gallery)

Producers: Marcela Okretič, Joško Pajer

Executive producer: Sonja Grdina

Assistant: Boris Beja

Technicians: Atila Boštjančič, Valter Udovičić

Public relations: Hana Ostan Ožbolt

Documentation: Miha Fras, Adriana Aleksić, Jernej Čuček Gerbec PRODUCTION: Aksioma – Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana; Drugo more, Rijeka, 2015



COPRODUCTION: Abandon Normal Devices, Škuc Gallery, Kino Šiška, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka







PARTNERS : Moderna galerija Ljubljana, d-i-n-a / The Influencers, Link Art Center







THANKS : Andrej Savski, Galerija Kapelica



Networked Disruption is realized in the framework of Masters & Servers, a joint project by Aksioma (SI), Drugo more (HR), AND (UK), Link Art Center (IT) and d-i-n-a / The Influencers (ES).







This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.







SUPPORTED BY: the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, the Municipality of Ljubljana, Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Slovenia.



Abandon Normal Devices, Škuc Gallery, Kino Šiška, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka: Moderna galerija Ljubljana, d-i-n-a / The Influencers, Link Art Center: Andrej Savski, Galerija KapelicaNetworked Disruption is realized in the framework of, a joint project by Aksioma (SI), Drugo more (HR), AND (UK), Link Art Center (IT) and d-i-n-a / The Influencers (ES).This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.SUPPORTED BY: the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, the Municipality of Ljubljana, Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Slovenia.





THE SEMINAR

March 11 – 12, 2015

Kino Šiška, Trg prekomorskih brigad 3, Ljubljana WITH: Annie Machon (UK), Bani Brusadin (ES), Baruch Gottlieb (CA/DE), Dmytri Kleiner (CA/DE), Florian Cramer (DE/NL), Ida Hiršenfelder (SI), Janez Janša (SI), John Law (US), Loretta Borrelli (IT), Luther Blissett (IT), Tatiana Bazzichelli (IT/DE), Vittore Baroni (IT), Vuk Ćosić (SI).





In parallel with the group exhibition, the seminar develops the topic of Networked Disruption through five discussion sessions and presentations organised over two days, followed by a collective round table. In the last decade, the critical framework of art and hacktivism has shifted from developing strategies of opposition to embarking on the art of disruption. By identifying the emerging contradictions within the current economic and political framework of information technology, this seminar presents a constellation of activist and hacker practices, as well as those of artists, who work on the interferences between networking participation, political criticism and disruptive business innovation. It adopts a historical perspective on the notion of social networking, by connecting together disruptive practices of networked art and hacking in California and Europe. Furthermore, the concept of disruption is applied to the recent debate on geopolitical surveillance after the Edward Snowden’s disclosures, investigating critical practices and new strategies of oppositions that are happening within closed systems.



SCHEDULE [detailed programme HERE Wednesday, March 11 2:00 pm – 2:30 pm

Introduction by Tatiana Bazzichelli: Overview of the topics addressed in the book Networked Disruption and introduction to the seminar and the exhibition. VIDEO 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm

Social Networking Out of the Box

A presentation/conversation between Vittore Baroni and Florian Cramer

Moderated by Tatiana Bazzichelli

VIDEO 1 | VIDEO 2 | VIDEO 3 Coffee Break: 30 minutes 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm

When Art Goes Disruptive

A conversation/presentation between Janez Janša and Loretta Borrelli

Moderated by Tatiana Bazzichelli

VIDEO 1 | VIDEO 2 8:00 pm

Networked Disruption

Opening of the exhibition

Škuc Gallery, Ljubljana

Thursday, March 12 2:00 pm – 2:15 pm

Introduction by Tatiana Bazzichelli 2:15 – 3:00 pm

Chaos Cacophony and Dark Saturnalia: How an obscure secret society in San Francisco in 1977 changed the way adults play for decades to come

Presentation by John Law

Introduced by Bani Brusadin

VIDEO 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Common Participation and Networking Enterprises

A conversation between Baruch Gottlieb , Dmytri Kleiner and John Law

Moderated by Bani Brusadin

VIDEO 1 | VIDEO 2 Coffee Break: 30 minutes 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm

Disrupting from Within

A conversation between Annie Machon and Vuk Ćosić

VIDEO 1 | VIDEO 2 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

Networked Disruption Round Table

Participants: Annie Machon, John Law, Vittore Baroni, Tatiana Bazzichelli, Loretta Borrelli, Luther Blissett, Baruch Gottlieb, Janez Janša

Moderated by Ida Hiršenfelder



More about the seminar and its participants HERE



SIDE PROGRAMME THU, 26 February 2015 at 8 pm Olivier Bonin

Dust & Illusions – 30 years of history of Burning Man

Film screening

The Old Power Station (Stara mestna elektrarna)

18 Slomškova St, Ljubljana



FREE ADMISSION! Documentary film Dust & Illusions by Olivier Bonin explores the thirty years of history of the Burning Man festival. Burning Man is a week-long annual event that began in San Francisco’s Baker Beach in the mid-1980s and then migrated to the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada. It takes its name from the ritual burning of a large wooden effigy. The event is described as an experiment in community, art, radical self-expression, and radical self-reliance and it is the largest cultural and art event in North America. From the renegade spirits of the 1970s in San Francisco, to the multi-million dollar business the event has become, the film looks at this necessary and explosive evolution.

The screening at the Old Power Station will introduce Slovenian audiences to the topics discussed by John Law, one of the founding members of the Burning Man festival, in his lecture, which will take place as part of the Networked Disruption seminar. SAT, 28 March 2015 at 6:30 pm Julian Oliver

COVER ME

Exhibition

Link Point, via Alessandro Monti 13, Brescia



FREE ADMISSION! Originally conceived for the exhibition at Link Cabinet on January 2015, the artwork is now on display for the first time in a physical venue.



MORE HERE