Edward A. Shanken: Surveillance Art and Critical Social Practice

How can artists push the limits of law, create public awareness, and contribute to the protection of privacy? In "Surveillance Art and Critical Social Practice," Edward A. Shanken will address a broad range artworks that investigate this domain of critical social practice. His talk will focus on artists and artworks that deploy technological media to offer a critique of the data-gathering methods currently deployed by industry and government.

Edward A. Shanken writes and teaches about the entwinement of art, science, and technology with a focus on interdisciplinary practices involving new media. Recent publications include essays on art and software, art historiography, sound art and ecology, and bridging the gap between new media and contemporary art. His books include Art and Electronic Media (Phaidon, 2009), Inventing the Future: Art - Electricity - New Media (2013), Telematic Embrace: Visionary Theories of Art, Technology and Consciousness (University of California Press, 2003), and Systems (Whitechapel/MIT, 2015).

This lecture is presented as part of Surveillance & Privacy: Art, Law, and Social Practice, a multi-day symposium (November 20–22) focusing on the response of artists and cultural institutions to issues related to privacy and surveillance. Examining historical attitudes, contemporary perspectives, and prognostications about the future of privacy, the symposium will explore how changes in technology, law, and social practices intermingle and impact public perceptions and cultural behavior. Among the works featured for analysis during the symposium is the Henry’s interactive art installation Sanctum, created by UW professors and artists James Coupe and Juan Pampin and installed on the museum’s façade. In addition to project-focused sessions and panel discussions (November 22, Henry Auditorium), the symposium will also feature a lecture by Marc Rotenberg (November 20, Kane Hall). 

Evening reception to follow.