Give Me My Data: A Facebook Application Inspired by the Stasi Files Controversy, talk at DAAD Meeting in Dresden, Germany

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Giving a talk today in Dresden, Germany titled, “Give Me My Data: A Facebook Application Inspired by the Stasi Files Controversy.” Here is the abstract.

During the final days of the German Democratic Republic (or GDR) it became evident that the Ministry for State Security (more popularly known as the “Stasi”) was destroying incriminating evidence from its 40-year history of domestic and international surveillance. These documents, which the Stasi was attempting to destroy using shredding machines, as well as by hand when the machines failed, included information gathered through various clandestine methods about lives of citizens of the GDR without their knowledge or consent.

On January 15, 1990, protestors stormed the Stasi headquarters in Berlin in attempt to prevent the destruction of personal records which they felt they should be able to access. The phrase, “Freiheit für meine Akte!” (in English: Freedom for my file!) spray painted on the Stasi guardhouse during this protest embodies a desire by citizens to open this closed world of state surveillance in order to understand the methods of control employed the Stasi

This moment in history inspires my ongoing project, Give Me My Data, a Facebook application that helps users export their data out of Facebook. While clearly utilitarian, this project intervenes into online user experiences, provoking users to take a critical look at their interactions within social networking websites. It suggests data is tangible and challenges users to think about ways in which their information is used for purposes outside of their control by government or corporate entities.

At the height of its operations, the Stasi is believed to have hired, between spies and full- and part-time informants, one in every 6.5 East German citizens to report suspicious activities, almost 2.5 million people.1 At this moment, the ratio of people entering data on Facebook to non-members is one in fourteen for the entire world,2 introducing possibly the most effective surveillance machine in history.

Review: Memoirs of a Spymaster by Markus Wolf and Anne McElvoy

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This is a review for the 1997 autobiography of Markus Wolf, the former head of East Germany’s foreign intelligence department.

Wolf’s story begins with a fascinating personal history, particularly, regarding his father who was a communist and their exile from Nazi Germany in Moscow. After the end of WWII and the downfall of the Third Reich Wolf returns to Germany, to Berlin, taking a position first as a journalist in the Soviet Zone and later taking a position and rising through the ranks of the party. He eventually becomes and serves for 30 years as head of the foreign intelligence division, the Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung (HVA) (en. Main Reconnaissance Administration), within the Ministry for State Security.

I found the writing articulate, though it often provides too much detail. It is especially riddled with justifications for controversial actions on the part of himself or the DDR. For example, there is a whole chapter devoted to Willy Brandt, the Chancellor of West Germany who resigned when one of his aides was exposed as an East German spy.

For all the dull details of his bureaucratic life …

“Vast stretches of this work were very boring. Intelligence is essentially a banal trade of sifting through huge amounts of random information in a search for a single enlightening gem or illuminating link.” (101)

… the book also contains a unique historical perspective of WWII and the two German states during the Cold War. It also has many other interesting facts about pre-digital-computer surveillance including methods for protecting identities of spies and ways to physically transfer secret messages. One example, which would be easy with a computer’s ability to generate pseudo-random numbers, was the use of bank note serial numbers for random numbers in cryptographic messaging. He mentions often that he was not a fan of the use of the computer to automate details of record-keeping or gathering because he felt computer records could to easily be stolen and put into the wrong hands.

“The problem with technical intelligence is that its essentially information without evaluation.” (284)

In closing, I recommend this book to anyone interested in the historic details of East Germany’s Ministry for State Security. I’ll end with a few choice quotes which point to the author’s wisdom and ability for critical self-reflection.

“The dividing line between freedom fighters and terrorists is usually determined by which side you are on.” (279)

“No secret service can ever be democratic nor, … open to constant scrutiny.” (282)

Cross-Disciplinary Productions

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In recognition of the 50th anniversary of the founding of UCSD, the Division of Arts and Humanities is hosting an exhibition celebrating the artistic identity of the Visual Arts Department, running from March 4 through June 6, 2011. Cross-Disciplinary Productions is curated by Tatiana Sizonenko, a PhD Candidate in Art History. The exhibition will present a survey of works by its founding and long-term faculty, most distinguished alumni, and current MFA students.

The Visual Arts Department was founded on the principle that art production, art theory and criticism, and art history are inter-related practices which together constitute the world or culture of art. This exhibition investigates the various ways that the department’s distinctive commitment to the theoretical framework of art was put into practice and whether this shared philosophy about the theoretical framework of art constitutes a tradition in the contemporary world.

Cross-Disciplinary Productions explores the dynamic interaction between art and society through the distinctive philosophy of the UCSD MFA program. This exhibition is the second in the series for the current academic year focusing on the identity
of Visual Arts Department. The first exhibition mounted in the Fall “The San Diego Effect” centered on the identity of place through works by MFA students at UCSD and San Diego State University that engaged with greater San Diego as a locale. The upcoming exhibition tracks the department’s identity through time as it is revealed by the personal stories and careers of graduated artists.

The exhibition pre-view reception includes a lecture and conversation with artist / critic / theorist Allan Sekula (UCSD/MFA 1974) and historian / critic / curator Moira Roth (Professor at UCSD 1974-85) who will discuss the history of UCSD MFA program and their own work. The pre-opening is scheduled for March 4, 2011 at 2pm in the Visual Arts Facility, performance space. Following the talk there will be an exhibition preview viewing with the curator on March 4 at 4pm in the Literature Building.

The exhibition opens to full viewing on March 11, 2011, with a special guest Jeff Kelley (MFA, UCSD 1985), an art critic, theorist, curator, and educator, currently residing in Oakland. Jeff Kelley will lead an enactment of Allan Kaprow’s “Easy” (1972) with PhD and MFA students (by RSVP). ” Join Jeff Kelley at 5:00 p.m. at the Dean’s Office for a conversation about Allan Kaprow’s performance and opening reception from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Participating artists:

David Antin, David Avalos, Rebecca Baron, Doris Bittar, Harold Cohen, Joyce Cutler Shaw, Joelle Dietrick, Steve Fagin, Manny Farber, Katie Herzog, Louis Hock, Allan Kaprow, Christopher Kardambikis, Jeff Kelley, Hung Liu, Fred Lonidier, Simone Lueck, Kim MacConnel, Babette Mangolte, Owen Mundy, Ryuta Nakajama, Leslie Nemour, Mark Oliver, Sheryl Oring, Patricia Patterson, Jerome Rothenberg, Italo Scanga, Louis Schmidt, Ernest Silva, Brianna Rigg, Perry Vasquez, Yvonne Venegas, Andrew West, and Minori Yata.

Special thanks go to: Jack and Michele Greenstein, Grant Kester, Susan Smith, Anya Gallaccio, Steve Fagin, Ernest Silva, Joseph Scanga and Italo Scanga Foundation, Joe Yorty, Lara Bullock, Steve Willard, Nancy Mah, B.J. Barclay, and Betty Jones.

March 4, 2011 – June 6, 2011
Hours: M-F, 9am-noon and 1-4pm
On view at the Division of Arts and Humanities Gallery, Literature Building, rooms 410 & 310
A Visual Arts Department Exhibition

For maps and directions visit:
http://dah.ucsd.edu/dean/directions.shtml

For information:
http://dah.ucsd.edu/dean/officeart.shtml

VIDEOGUD 2011

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VIDEOGUD SPRING 2011
Kultur i länet
Uppsala, Sweden

A collaboration between the county councils of Gävleborg, Uppsala, and Dalarna to show video art in public places – for example in libraries, schools and hospitals.

Arts Gävleborg – Video Room
Theme

The theme for this spring’s movies is the human relationship with the city and countryside. Whether the works in the spring program takes place on the coast, in town or in front of a waterfall as they all have in common that they are asking questions about how humans project the feelings and sentiments of the phenomena in nature and in the city.

Common to the five works is that the artists relate to the province or city as the work takes place in. The city or the countryside is not given to the works but its influence is being investigated.

The program begins with Owen Mundy film “Through A Glass Darkly” in which what we normally see as the wings – the landscape now is the focus, Mundy works followed by Hanna Ljungh settlement and dialogue with a waterfall. In Ulu Braun’s film “Atlantic Garden” meet people, landscapes and nature, reality and fiction.

The program concludes with two films “Zwischen” and “The Perfect Hour” which takes place in cities, one in Berlin, the others in Stockholm. In both works, you can choose to see the city as a backdrop or motaktör the main character.

Still from Through A Glass Darkly
Through A Glass Darkly

(translated from Swedish)

Through A Glass Darkly is a remix of the landscape of popular films depicting war. Eerily quiet, but also beautiful, creates images at a contrast between stillness and chaos, between beauty and destruction.

The films are chronologically compiled, ie. first clip is from a film about American War of Independence followed landscapes and scenes from movies depicting war and conflicts in the world until today. Taken out of context becomes important landscapes charged in themselves, while they remind us of nature as a battleground. Examples of some films that used in the work are The Patriot, Gone with the Wind, The Thin Red Line and Apocalypse Now.

Through A Glass Darkly is originally an English translation of a verse in the Bible’s Korinterbrev, in Swedish reads: “Now we see in a dim way, such as in a mirror, but then we shall see face to face.” Stanza, Breakthrough A Glass Darkly, has been used in the English translation of Ingmar Bergman’s film “Through a Glass Darkly.”

—Andreas Bjersby
Kultur i länet
Projektledare konst

Poster

Program

3 Feb – 24 Feb
Through A Glass Darkly
Owen Mundy, USA

24 Feb – 17 Mar
How to Civilize A Waterfall
Hanna Ljungh, Sweden

17 Mar – 7 Apr
Atlantic Garden
Ulu Braun, Germany

7 Apr – 28 Apr
Zwischen
Diego Aguilló, Germany

28 Apr – 19 May
The Perfect Hour
Niclaz Erlingmark, Sweden

Display Stations

Gävleborg: Sandviken Public Libraries, Silvanum Gävle, Voxna Valley High School, Show Bilbliotek, Gävle Hospital, Hudiksvall Library, Workshops Port Hedland.

Uppsala: Uppsala University Hospital, Formation Center Jan Fridegård Bålsta, Enköping Hospital, Tierps clinic.

Dalarna County: Dalarna Museum, Falun Public Library, Old Meken Smederevo, Hedemora Public Library’s Cultural Right, Vansbro library.

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