Conspiracy Dwellings: Surveillance in Contemporary Art

Product Description '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 Ozog, 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? About the Author 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 work has been shown widely in venues including the Imperial War Museum, London, (1995); Museum of Modern Art, Dubrovnik, (2002); Moscow Biennale, (2007); 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); co-curator and co-author of the exhibition Hygiene: The Art of Public Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, (2002) and Journal of Visual Culture vol. 2, no. 1 (Sage Publications, 2003); 'Restretching the Canvas' in Unframed, Practices & Politics of Women's Contemporary Painting, ed. Rosemary Betterton, (IB Tauris, 2004). Currently she is working with Jessica Dubow on the AHRC interdisciplinary art project Archive of Exile.