Conspiracy Dwellings: Surveillance in Contemporary Art

Edited by Outi Remes and Pam Skelton
Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010.
BOOK LAUNCH 3 JUNE 2010, 6PM.
'Conspiracy Dwellings: Surveillance in Contemporary Art is essential reading for todays citizen. This important collection attends to the issues raised by surveillance from the 1970s, to 9/11 and its aftermath, through to the present day. A significant and timely collection.'
--Joanne Morra, Founding Principal Editor of the Journal of Visual Culture, and Reader in Art History and Theory at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London.

Conspiracy Dwellings: Surveillance in Contemporary Art brings together the essays of theorists and art practitioners about artworks made in the midst of conflict or from the position of commentary and critique. With the focus on surveillance and its impact on urban space, architecture, and citizenship this collection of essays helps us to understand the times we live in through art practices that consider the practical and theoretical status of surveillance from a variety of positions. In topics that span the 70s to the present day the authors feature work made by artists from South Africa, Germany, Poland, Mexico, Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom.
John Aiken, Willie Doherty, Gavin Jantjes, Gundula-Schulze-Eldow, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Jill Magid and Artur Zwijewski are some of the artists whose work is considered in this collection addressing complex issues such as resistance, censorship, control and state power, civic liberties, human rights, CCTV and the use digital software in strategies of counter-surveillance which propose new spectatorial positions, individual empowerment and entertainment. Today political uncertainty and suspicion, the subject of patriotism, freedom and democratic rights are once again high on the agenda, raising questions such as, where do we draw the line—how far does surveillance have to go before it worries us—and at what point is the citizen regarded as a threat to the state? This illustrated collection addresses some of these issues in essays by Anthony Downey, Christine Eyene, Liam Kelly, Verena Kyselka, Robert Knifton, Maciej Ozóg, Outi Remes, Paula Roush, Matthew Shaul and Pam Skelton.

Isbn13: 978-1-4438-1905-3.
Isbn: 1-4438-1905-0.
Sample PDF:
http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/978-1-4438-1905-3-sample.pdf
The launch is supported by South Hill Park Arts Centre and Central Saint Martins, University of Arts London.