SALVATORE VITALE (IT/CH

Švica velja za eno najbolj varnih držav na svetu in zgled učinkovitosti. To, kako se država poskuša zaščititi pred raznovrstnimi tveganji, nevarnostmi in grožnjami, je Salvatoru Vitalu dalo navdih za vizualno raziskavo. Med letoma 2014 in 2018 je raziskoval, kako so sistemi zaščite in prevencije integrirani v naš vsakdan, naše vedenje in razmišljanje. Projekt odraža in raziskuje, kako se preko fotografij, besedil in podatkovno vizualizacijo vzpostavlja varnost. Glavni namen ni razkrivati skozi raziskovanje ali aktivizem, temveč konkretizirati težko predstavljive družbene občutljivosti in strukturno nasilje sistema. Nekatera od glavnih vprašanj, ki jih zastavlja, so: Kako so posamezniki ujeti s strani državnih in privatnih akterjev v varnostnem sistemu? Kakšne vloge in vrednote so nam dodeljene in kako se sistem obrača na nas kot državljane? Kakšne so neizmerljive posledice, ki jih za nas prinaša celostna slika spremljanja naših podatkov? Kdo lahko določi, ali so tveganja dobra ali slaba in kdo bo imel od njih korist? Kako se odzivajo javni in zasebni akterji? Kolikšni svobodi smo se kot državljani pripravljeni odreči za našo zaščito? Vitalejev dolgoletni projekt poskuša osvetliti na videz obsesivno zaskrbljenost z varnostjo: varnostne ukrepe, vedenja, infrastrukturo, kode in protokole, ki so razvidni tako v vedenju posameznikov in političnih debatah o temah, kot so migracije. Te so pogosto abstraktni, resni in neosebni standardizirani postopki. Kljub temu – kot pravi fotografsko delo – se bistvo tega varnostnega aparata kaže kot estetska dispozicija, ki se jo lahko preuči in izraža preko fotografije. Raziskava je osnovana na institucionalnem omrežju – policije, vojske, carine, migracijskih organov, vremenskih storitev, IT služb in raziskovalnih centrov za robotiko in umetno inteligenco. Vitale je, zahvaljujoč sodelovanju z raznimi strokovnjaki in raziskovalci, ustvaril zemljevid ozračja z notranjosti švicarskega javno-pravnega varnostnega kompleksa. Projekt je zasnovan kot večperspektivni prostor razmišljanja in združevanja, ki deluje kot gozd znakov, urbana pokrajina fotografskih podob – selektivni ‘grand tour’ švicarskega varnostnega sistema. Na ta način raziskuje nekatere izmed najbolj relevantnih družbenopolitičnih težav našega časa. 

Switzerland is considered one of the safest countries in the world and a prime example of efficiency. The question of how it tries to protect itself against all kinds of risks, dangers and threats prompted Salvatore Vitale to launch a visual research project. Between 2014 and 2018, he investigated how protection and prevention systems permeate our everyday lives, our behaviour and our thinking. The project reflects and explores the creation of security through photos, texts and data visualizations. The primary focus is not on an investigative or activist approach with the aim of exposing, but rather on the effort to make tangible social sensitivities that are difficult to grasp as well as the structural violence of the system. Some key questions were: How are individuals captured by state and private actors within the security complex? What values and roles are assigned and how are we addressed as citizens? What are the incalculable consequences for us of the overall picture of our data traces? Who has the power to define good and bad risks and who profits from it? How do state and private actors react? And how much freedom are we as citizens prepared to give up for our protection? Vitale’s long-term project attempts to make visible the seemingly obsessive preoccupation with security: the precautions, attitudes, infrastructures, codes and protocols that can be observed both in individual behaviour and in political discussion, for example on issues such as migration. These are often standardized processes that are abstract, sober and faceless. Nevertheless – as the photographic work suggests – the essence of this security apparatus manifests itself as an aesthetically perceptible disposition that can also be explored and communicated by means of photography. The investigation is based on the institutional network – police, military, customs and migration authorities, weather services, IT companies as well as research centers for robotics and artificial intelligence. Thanks to active collaboration with various specialists and researchers, Vitale has succeeded in creating a kind of mapping of atmospheres from the interior of Switzerland’s public-private security complex. The project is conceived as a multi-perspective space for thought and aggregator and appears as a forest of signs, an urban landscape of photographic images – a selective ‘Grand Tour’ of the Swiss security system. It thus explores some of the most relevant socio-political and technological issues of our time. 

Kako zavarovati državo / How to Secure a Country, 2014—2019

Švicarski nacionalni superračunalniški center Swiss National Supercomputing Center (CSCS), Lugano. digitalna fotografija / digital photograph

Sodelujoči / Credits Oblikovanje razstave / Exhibition design: Salvatore Vitale, Lars Willumeit Oblikovanje struktur / Structures design: Federico Rella Vizualizacija podatkov / Data visualizations: Offshore Studio