Soft Manipulation

SOFT MANIPULATION
WHO IS AFRAID OF THE NEW NOW?
20 December 2009 - 1 March 2009
Casino Luxembourg - Luxembourg
Curator: Zoran Eric, Maria Lind, Enrico Lunghi

Alexandra Croitoru & ST, Köken Ergun, Sagi Groner, Per Hasselberg, Saskia Holmkvist, Andreja Kuluncic, Julia Meltzer & David Thorne, Carlos Motta, Rabih Mroué, An-My Lê, Ferhat Özgür, Jenny Perlin, Lisi Raskin, Bert Theis, Måns Wrange, Carey Young, Katarina Zdjelar, Artur Žmijewski

The exhibition starts from a cultural condition which many people across the globe are currently living through. It is a situation in which fear is being triggered, confinement taken as a given, surveillance considered as normal and conscious disinformation omnipresent, the whole under the cover of guaranteeing security, freedom of consumption and public policy transparency. More than anything, soft manipulation is the method of the day.

This condition is a symptom of the globalised world, where the flow of information, of capital and even people has become faster than ever, at least for those who have control and the necessary means. Those who are interested and involved in this social game, be it supranational formations, nation-states, big corporations or small companies, are creating rules of commitment where barriers, obstacles and signs of warning are used to monitor and create fear among their subjects. The driving forces of this order are produced and spread out rhizomatically from many sources, covering up to the remotest corner of the world.

This phenomenon is not recent, it has a long history and has been growing slowly and steadily. Our story starts with revealing the legacy of “cold war” tactics in manipulation. More recently, it has been implemented with the help of advanced techniques of surveillance, data gathering, biometric techniques of identification, “confinement without walls” and above all the manipulative potential of the mass media.

The invited artists all share an inquisitive stance towards the social realities produced by these means of soft manipulation. With works that cover all available media of contemporary art today, they provide us with possible ways of confronting this condition, whilst at the same time exposing, even challenging them: doubt is introduced into the system, fear is fended off with cunning play, manipulation is confronted with even more manipulation, and with artistic freedom.

The exhibition catalogue is due to come out in the course of February 2009.

Curators : Zoran Eric, Maria Lind, Enrico Lunghi