How did the internet go from the utopian free-for-all, open source heaven, libertarian last frontier to the current state of permanent surveillance, exhibitionism and paranoia?

This duplicity is the underlying thread that links the artists, activists, and researchers who will participate in The Black Chamber, an exhibition, a symposium, and an urban intervention curated by The Influencers (ES), produced by Aksioma (SI) in partnership with Drugo More (HR) and hosted, respectively, by Galerija Škuc and Kino Šiška in Ljubljana.

Developed through ongoing research on these subjects by internationally renown artist duo Eva & Franco Mattes and researcher and curator Bani Brusadin, The Black Chamber aims at discussing the delicate and often awkward role of art and imagination in the age of mass surveillance, stressing the multiple connections between post-studio art and independent research, grassroots reverse engineering, and new forms of political activism in the age of networks.

THE EXHIBITION
March 10 – April 1, 2016
Škuc Gallery, Stari trg 21, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Exhibition opening: Thursday, March 10 2016 at 9 pm
Opening hours: Tuesday–Sunday 12 pm – 8 pm

WITH: Jacob Appelbaum & Ai Weiwei, Zach Blas, James Bridle, Émilie Brout & Maxime Marion, Simon Denny, Jill Magid, !Mediengruppe Bitnik, Metahaven, Laura Poitras, Evan Roth.

THE CONFERENCE
March 9 – 10, 2016
Kino Šiška, Trg prekomorskih brigad 3, Ljubljana

WITH: Marko Peljhan, Simona Levi, Evan Roth, Émilie Brout & Maxime Marion, and Zach Blas.