Shift 2008
Theme 2008 “record, record” – to register; to store; to process
281 exabytes – that’s a number with 18 zeros – was the amount of digital data in existence at the end of 2007, according to a study conducted by the data storage systems company, EMC. And, willingly or unwillingly, we all contribute to making that data mountain grow bigger by the day.
We live in an era with a relentless appetite for recording and storing data. Everywhere and every minute, increasingly capable media record, back up, upload, and process data then send it on its way. A patently endless archive is being created – spread far and wide in complex data banks and on multi-medial and often mobile personal gadgets.
A mobile phone for example, is an audio-recorder is an mp3-player is a photo camera is a (surveillance) video camera is an agenda is a GPS is a mini-server is a VCR is a weapon. The sheer endless practice of recording and also of writing down, registering and keeping protocol generates and at the same time testifies to the new poetry of data collections and mountains of files. Storage capacity seems infinite and yet it is linked to and limited by unchallenged selection and storage criteria.
Data concerning individuals or organisations is recorded and stored both with and without their knowledge or consent.
Shift 2008 investigates and questions these global developments and their stealthy, pervasive influence on everyday life, which nobody can evade. The questions are, what happens with all this data; where does it end up; who uses it, and when, and how? Which functions do archives and data banks fulfil, and for which future? Which ways of dealing with knowledge are feasible? Which kinds of surveillance, manipulation and abuse are possible - and how might one resist or outwit them?
The Shift festival 2008 will address this topic in the light of 3 interpretations of one key word: record
To register: to record The potential to record endlessly is given – and this necessarily poses questions as to who may or ought to record (what), and when, and to what ends. The field of electronic arts is largely based on the potential of technical recording.
To store: on recordDigitalisation has changed the procedures and power of archiving. File-sharing and Open Source software have led to the proliferation of new, dynamic, decentralised archives. These pose a serious challenge to the traditional dominance of central, static archives: for the question of who has access to what remains crucial.
To process: re-recording records By playing with the parameters of recording and of that which is recorded, art opens up cracks that allow us to look below the surface: to look at the specific materiality of a recording medium as well as at how the archive-based practices of repetition, stuttering and re-mixing engage signifiers and the signified in lively interaction– which ultimately also implies an exciting approach to an unimaginable abundance of data.
http://www.shiftfestival.ch /
