Art in the Name of Security, an interdisciplinary exhibition focussing onthe societal shifts caused by the universal desire for security
Akademie der Künste, EMBEDDED ART: Art in the Name of Security, an interdisciplinary exhibition focussing on the societal shifts caused by the universal desire for security
Curated by Olaf Arndt, Moritz von Rappard, Janneke Schönenbach, Cecilia Wee
info: www.embeddedart.org 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. For EMBEDDED ART, the curators Olaf Arndt, Moritz von
Rappard, Janneke Schönenbach, and Cecilia Wee of artist’s group ‘Künstlergruppe BBM’ have
commissioned international artists to respond to the current situation. EMBEDDED ART will show only works
which have been realised on location against a background of research into future security. The diverse
works focus on the conflicting fields of terrorism and terror, security and control. EMBEDDED ART is the
working principle, ‘art in the name of security’ is the theme of the exhibition.
With more than 30 commissioned works, the exhibition in the Akademie-building at Pariser Platz not only
highlights many of the pertinent issues relating to security, it also offers fascinating insights 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 on this project. 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’. The exhibition will feature works by, amongst others, Peter Kennard, Jörg Möller,
Gunter Rambow, Heidi Specker, Akademie-president Klaus Staeck/REMOTEWORDS, Timm Ulrichs, and
Omar Vulpinari.
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 the
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.
