Sab Haas

1. DOES DEMOCRACY STILL WORK?

The current political climate is an increasingly messy and polarised space, with many citizens expressing disenfranchisement or disconnection from those who are meant to represent them. Cultural movements such as the Black Lives Matter protests and the #metoo movement reflect a desire to be heard, and camera phones and social media give people a way to share their perspective. This is how people testify today.

We produced this film, with footage from over thirty protests from eighteen countries around the world. It is constructed from video clips and livestreams captured on mobile phones by participants in those protests. We are grateful to the people who shared their stories and footage with us.

2. EVERYTHING CONNECTS TO EVERYTHING

On an ultra wide screen, suspended from the ceiling, is a standalone film exploring the commodification of data on our lives and the complexity of networked technologies. Making use of montage as an ideological technique as well as an aesthetic one; the film reveals complex connections between seemingly unrelated devices, interfaces and technologies across various scales. From people generating data in exchange for social connection, to autonomous systems and data mining farms, this piece explores how all of us are connected via our data through invisible systems which we don’t always understand. Finally, we examined what these networks are built from (and who or what builds them). The film begins to give a sense that the tools we are creating to master the world, are re-mastering us.

Text by Superflux