[Nettime-ro] F[acts]igures

[Nita Mocanu <cum_sa_spun_eu@yahoo.co.uk>]

http://www.annodijkstra.nl/exhibition/facts_figures.htm
  http://www.artwalkamsterdam.nl/
  http://nitamocanu.blogspot.com
   
  Stichting Drei Birken auf der Heide in samenwerking met Stichting Artwalk presenteren:

F[acts]igures


from 15 December 2006 to 18 March 2007

Tentoonstelling// Exhibition Artwalk/ Staatsliedenbuurt Amsterdam.
 Opening Thursday 14 Dec 17.00-20.00 hrs.

De Wittenkade 170-1h/ 1051 AP/ Amsterdam/ Netherlands 
Openingsact: Queens Nails Annex uit San Francisco / Mexico.

Participating artists
Zbynek Baladrán (Tschechië/Czech Republic) // Tiffany D. Chung (Vietnam) // Felipe Dulzaides (Cuba) // Sean Mc Farland (U.S.A) // Cigdem Kaya (Turkije/Turkey) // Dimitri Kozyrev (Rusland/Russia) // Momo Mee-Ping Leung (China) // Ingrid Masondo (Zuid Afrika/South Africa) // Nita Mocanu (Roemenië/Romania) // Ivan Moudov (Bulgarije/Bulgaria) // Mark J. Mulroney (U.S.A) // Guy Overfelt (U.S.A) // Queens Nails Annex (Julio Morales, Mexico/ Bob Linder, U.S.A) // Anders Ruhwald (Denemarken/Denmark) // Samson Ssenkaaba (Uganda) // Despina Stokou (Griekenland / Greece) 

Curators
Ian McDonald 
Esther Vossen 
Anno Dijkstra

  Cens(us) F(acts)
During the Mexican-American War, the United States in 1846 took control of the region known as Yerba Buena, renaming it San Francisco. One hundred and sixty years later, only Yerba Buena Island bears the name of a region once under the flag of another country. In my San Francisco neighborhood of Noe Valley, what was once a working class neighborhood has drastically changed. Named after Yerba Buena¹s last Mexican Mayor Jose de Jesus Noe, Noe Valley experienced rapid growth after the 1906 earthquake. Many of the street names designed by John Meirs Horner, reflect Horner¹s own history, including the street where I live Jersey Street, named for his birthplace of New Jersey.
These are just a few facts about my small neighborhood in San Francisco, giving a glimpse into the past, and perhaps an indication of the future. Presented with these "facts"; does our opinion or experience of San Francisco change? How do we respond to "facts", whether about a place we live, or even a place we have never visited?
There are many "Facts and Figures" being kept throughout the world including Police Blotters, voter polls, and even the weather. Recently, the United Nations released the rankings of the best countries in the world in which to live, ranking Norway at the top of the list (1). However, this statistic is a fragile one, as country policies change and conflicts can emerge that could damage a countries standing in the UN¹s Human Development Index. In 2005 Luxembourg was ranked fourth in the world (2), only to fall to twelfth one year later. Again we are confronted with the question as to what we as a population, or in the case of "Facts and Figures" what can artists do with this information? Moreover, how do we respond to the figures from a place we have never experienced?
Before responding to these questions it may help to explore why these statistics are kept in the first place. Why is society so interested in tracking birth rates, death rates, crime, education and immigration? Michel Foucault would relate this phenomenon to a form of "Biopower", allowing agencies, institutions and governments a form of power over its body public (3). Yet, this calls to mind the role of the population at large, and whether it plays an active or a passive role in society. Can we as a population create an active environment in which engaging "Facts and Figures", transforms the very make up of these statistics? 
According to a Pew Hispanic Center Report, eighty to eighty five percent of the migration from Mexico has been undocumented (4). If we are to read this statistic as an active engagement against statistics and "Facts and Figures", then it comes as no surprise why governments are so worried. In this case, the undocumented body becomes an impossibility to control through the use of "Biopower". The undocumented stand outside the statistics, actually forming their own statistical formula, that makes them increasingly difficult to track. Never mind the sticky issue of these undocumented bodies returning to a place where they were originally from. Without the ability to track portions of a population rules become tricky, and tough to enforce, as advertisers can't market to an unknown entity. 
It is here where we begin with the exhibition of F[acts]igures in Westerpark, Amsterdam. As the artists in the exhibition begin to investigate the validity and interest in the "Facts" presented to them from this particular neighborhood, we will begin to examine how one artistically responds to an environment they have never experienced. Furthermore, we will begin to probe into the questions of active engagement in response to published data about a particular place in Westerpark, to see if it can reflect similarities and differences with places such as Vietnam, Turkey, Denmark all the way to Noe Valley, San Francisco. 
F[acts]igures in this case exists in two parts, one being the issues of statistical power, and the second being artistic interaction and engagement in an effort to transform the statistical landscape.

Ian McDonald
San Francisco, November 2006 


(1) Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis, United Nations Human Development Index Report 2006
(2) International Cooperation at a Crossroads: Aid, Trade, and Security in an Unequal World, United Nations Human Development Index Report 2005
(3) History of Sexuality, Michel Foucault, 1976
(4) Estimates of the Size and Characteristics of the Undocumented Population, Pew Hispanic Center, Jeffrey S. Passel, Report March 21, 2005



F[acts]igures is van 15 december 2006 tot en met 18 maart 2007 dagelijks te zien in de etalages van kunstroute Stichting Artwalk. Voor meer informatie:Anno Dijkstra 065 2243331. // F[acts]igures is daily on view in the vitrines of the artroute Stichting Artwalk. Further information: Anno Dijkstra 065 2243331 

F[acts]igures werd mogelijk gemaakt dankzij financiële bijdragen van 
Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, VSB Fonds, Stadsdeel 
Westerpark. Met dank aan Hippo Records en 
Ilona Plaum (ontwerp)

 		
---------------------------------
 The all-new Yahoo! Mail goes wherever you go - free your email address from your Internet provider.
_______________________________________________
Nettime-ro mailing list
Nettime-ro@nettime.org
http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-ro
-->
arhiva: http://amsterdam.nettime.org/