Watched! Surveillance, Art and Photography

Participating artists: Meriç Algün Ringborg, Jason E. Bowman, James Bridle, Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin, Tina Enghoff, Alberto Frigo, Mishka Henner, Marco Poloni, Ann-Sofi Sidén, Hito Steyerl

The exhibition Watched! Surveillance, Art and Photography reflects on the complexities of contemporary surveillance, with a specific attention to photography. The works in the exhibition are from the last ten years, and they convey different approaches to surveillance: from technologies used by state and authorities to everyday monitoring practices that have become an integrated part of our lives, especially within social media.

Contemporary surveillance is not limited to visual monitoring, but in order to understand how surveillance works, it is still necessary to address the photographic. Our entire existence is being photographed and visualized to an unprecedented degree. This raises new questions about voluntary and involuntary visibility, as well photohistorical issues of watching and being watched.

The artists in Watched! appropriate imagery and apply CCTV, Facial Recognition Technology, Google Street View, life-logging and virtual animation. They also reactivate older practices of spying, exposure and voyeurism. Conceptually, they probe issues of security, which are used as arguments for enhanced surveillance, but which often ignore the discriminatory scrutiny, criminalization and vulnerability that follow. 

Watched! is part of a research project on surveillance, art, and photography in Europe in the new millennium, initiated by Louise Wolthers, Head of Research at the Hasselblad Foundation. The accompanying book, published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, includes artworks by 40 artists, as well as in-depth essays on surveillance by leading scholars within the field, such as Tom Holert, Hille Koskela and Peter Weibel.

Curators: Louise Wolthers, Dragana Vujanovic and Niclas Östlind

The exhibition and the book are collaborations between the Hasselblad Foundation, Valand Academy, Kunsthal Aarhus, Galleri Image, ARoS and C/O Berlin.

Upcoming exhibition venues are Kunsthal Aarhus, October 14–December 31, 2016, with selected works displayed at Galleri Image and ARoS, in Aarhus, October 14–December 18, 2016; C/O Berlin February 17–May 21, 2017.

Program
May 28, 1pm
Guided tour of the exhibition by the curators and artists

August 24, 6pm
Book launch at Konst-ig, Åsögatan 124, Stockholm

September 12–16
Artist talks and film screenings at Valand Academy, Gothenburg

More information is continuously updated on www.hasselbladfoundation.se and akademinvaland.gu.se