PST ART: Art & Science Collide will create opportunities for civic dialogue around some of the most urgent problems of our time by exploring past and present connections between art and science in a series of exhibitions, public programs, and other resources. Project topics range from climate change and environmental justice to the future of artificial intelligence and alternative medicine.
COUNTER/SURVEILLANCE: CONTROL, PRIVACY, AGENCY
Co-curated with science historian Marieke Drost.
In recent decades, technological advances have supercharged surveillance. Online, personal data are automatically collected and analyzed on a mass scale. Algorithms watch, listen, track, and identify people, complementing and sometimes replacing human eyes and ears. Powerful combinations of surveillance software and hardware, such as surveillance cameras outfitted with real-time facial recognition, are conquering public spaces. These technologies are often misleadingly presented as though they were pure innovation and have no history.
The exhibition Counter/Surveillance traces the historical roots of such surveillance devices and methods, and the Cold War dynamics that shaped and spread them. It explores the precursors of current biometric surveillance in Cold War manuals for police, border guards and spies; in forensic portraiture; and in the little-known early history of computer facial recognition, revealing links between forensics, science, art, and popular culture. It also traces similarities between Cold War surveillance devices and methods used in East and West, from miniature cameras and listening devices to forensic composite kits. These not only point to a shared technical history, but are also indicative of exchange, inspiration, and imitation across the Iron Curtain. Technical exchanges with allies in the Global South ensured further international dissemination.
Then as now, the skills and tools of secret services were sometimes mirrored by the creativity of their targets. Throughout history, dissidents, activists, and artists have found ways to “watch the watchers” in order to evade, criticize, and expose them – sometimes using the very same surveillance methods and tools deployed against them, from covert photography to profiling and encryption. Others repurposed surveillance tools to make art or created artworks that correct and reclaim the distorted narratives that emerge from personal surveillance files. By showing the rich history of such acts of countersurveillance, the exhibition calls attention to the many ways in which people have reclaimed agency, it celebrates human ingenuity vis-à-vis state control, and it shows how art can be an inspirational signpost in the process.
Wende InstallationThe exhibition includes artwork from Sadie Barnette, Paolo Cirio, Asya Dodina & Slava Polishchuk, Graham Fink, Ken Gonzales-Day, Damara Inglês, Yazan Khalili, Verena Kyselka, Gerhard Lang, Francisco Masó, Decebal Scriba, Liat Segal, Nedko Solakov, Xu Bing, Yang Jian, and Mail Art from the Mail Art Archive of Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt and Robert Rehfeldt, Berlin.
The Wende is also planning a panel discussion in partnership with the History of Science Society on November 23 that will focus on the history of facial recognition. Sharrona Pearl (Drexel University) and Iris Clever (University of Chicago) have confirmed their participation, Soraya de Chadarevian (UCLA) will be moderating. Nov. 23, 1:30-3:30pm
Exhibition catalog with essay by Ken Gonzales-Day
About PST ART: Art & Science Collide
Southern California’s landmark arts event, PST ART (previously Pacific Standard Time), returns in September 2024 with more than 818 artists, 50 exhibitions, and 1 mind-blowing theme:
Art & Science Collide
In partnership with museums and institutions across the region, this is one of the most expansive art events in the world.
This “collision” will explore the intersections of Art and Science, both past and present, with diverse organizations activating exhibitions on topics like ancient cosmologies, Indigenous sci-fi, environmental justice, and artificial intelligence.
PST ART: Art & Science Collide will share groundbreaking research, spark lively debate, and provide thought-provoking lenses to explore our complex world.
Whether you are already in-the-know or discovering PST ART for the first time, Art & Science Collide will be the groundbreaking event of 2024.
PST ART is a Getty initiative.
ON PBS:
Getty’s PST ART: Art & Science Collide Groundbreaking Event in Southern California To Become a New PBS Documentary, Now in Production
New PBS SoCal digital shorts series FUSING ART & SCIENCE launches today with three short docs previewing content from the upcoming program featuring 11 innovative exhibits from top arts organizations and museums across Southern California; Plus, local high school students produce PST ART-focused video news reports.
“Surveillance and Countersurveillance: Control, Privacy, Agency” Streams on Weds., Mar. 5 Location: Wende Museum (Culver City)
The exhibition Counter/Surveillance traces the historical roots of Cold War and modern surveillance devices and methods. These technologies of detection, spying and countermeasures influenced divisions among nations, classes and races. Artist Ken Gonzales-Day examines the racial biases of facial recognition technologies through his work.
Link to PBS video HERE
October 13, 2024 to October 19, 2025
The Wende Museum
10808 Culver Boulevard,
Culver City, CA 90230
Open Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m.—5 p.m.
For addition information visit: The Wende Museum
For additional information on PST ART: Art & Science Collide
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