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Conspiracy Dwellings: Surveillance in Contemporary Art
Editor: Outi Remes and Pam Skelton
Date Of Publication: Apr 2010
Isbn13: 978-1-4438-1905-3
Isbn: 1-4438-1905-0
Conspiracy Dwellings: Surveillance in Contemporary Art brings together nine illustrated essays of theorists and art practitioners about artworks made in the midst of conflict or from the position of commentary and critique in topics that span from the ‘70s to the present day. The contributors Anthony Downey, Christine Eyene, Liam Kelly, Verena Kyselka, Robert Knifton, Outi Remes, Maciej Ożóg, Paula Roush, Matthew Shaul and Pam Skelton consider the practical and theoretical status of surveillance from a variety of positions that include surveillance and its impact on urban space, architecture, citizenship and civil liberties. These essays also provide the opportunity to consider artworks that address conflict and resistance as a lived experience alongside strategies of counter-surveillance that propose new spectatorial positions, individual empowerment and entertainment. Today, in post 9/11 times of economic difficulties, 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?

Outi Remes is a curator and art historian. She is Head of Exhibitions at South Hill Park Arts Centre in Berkshire and lectures on modern and contemporary art and gallery studies at Birkbeck, University of London. She has curated a wide range of exhibitions and live art projects, including South Hill Park’s “Rules and Regs” live art residences (2007, 2008, 2009) and the “Surveillance” (2007–8) and “Sound:Space” (2008) seasons. Her research interests include contemporary art in relation to media culture, cultural interaction in public spaces and the production of the self. She has a PhD from the University of Reading (2005) and has recently published on photography, sculpture and the production of the artistic self.

Pam Skelton is an artist and Reader in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London. Her artworks explore the interface of private and public memory in video installations that confront events and conflicts in modern and contemporary European history. Her exhibitions include “After Auschwitz,” Imperial War Museum, London (1995); “Perceptions,” Museum of Modern Art, Dubrovnik (2002); “Burning Poems,” Anna Akhmatova Museum, St. Petersburg (2005) and the Moscow Biennale (2007); and “Dwelling in the Space of Conspiracy,” (ISEA09) Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast (2009). She is co-editor of the exhibition and book Private Views: Spaces and Gender in Contemporary Art from Britain and Estonia (WAL, 2000) and co-curator of the exhibition “Hygiene: The Art of Public Health,” London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London (2002).

''Conspiracy Dwellings' makes an arc from the 1970s to the present, gathering a global selection of materials around its subject. [...] It is unique at scanning the subject of surveillance at such breadth from a variety of perspectives by both theorists and art practitioners.' Dr. Jane Button, Artlink, Vol 31:3, p. 42-43.

“Conspiracy Dwellings: Surveillance in Contemporary Art is essential reading for today’s 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

Price Uk Gbp: 34.99
Price Us Usd: 52.99

Sample pdf (including Table of Contents)

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