24/07/2021
Poché Conversations: The Dystopia Series
In this series of talks, Poché attempts to explore the grey areas between dystopia and utopia and the seed of one within the other.
Recently a list of potential targets prepared in advance of surveillance, by state clients of the Israeli NSO group was revealed by Forbidden Stories and a global media consortium. Investigative journalism uncovered the use of Pegasus Spyware for the unlawful surveillance of journalists, public intellectuals, politicians, business and community leaders and other Indian citizens. These are those who have in the past challenged the status quo on issues of human rights, the environment, state policies and projects—in other words, perceived trouble makers in the eyes of the State. In the wake of this, it has become clear that we may have entered a space of remote, surveillance, subterfuge and violence of far greater consequence than populist proliferation of fake news and information alone had suggested. Together these create a dystopic reality in which a virtual-veil screens action from consequence. New mechanisms that operate digitally trigger violence in the physical world in an effort to re-organise it in increasingly autocratic ways.
In an effort to make sense of this dystopia, Poché Conversations, in its new series, will traverse this condition. We start this series with a talk by Eyal Weizman of Forensic Architecture (https://forensic-architecture.org) on the 29th of July. The Talks are open to all and will stream live on the Poché YouTube channel. Watch this space for more information and links.
