Scale: Neocolonial Extraction and Surveillance
<p>The concept of scale is related to mapping, which is intrinsically related to colonization and neocolonial military practices. Anthony Downey, Professor of Visual Culture in the Middle East and North Africa (Birmingham City University), draws a historical line from the development of cartographic devices and photogrammetry in the 18th and 19th centuries to the neocolonial extraction of data through AI-powered models of hyper-surveillance. Utilized for training neural networks and refining algorithms, these methods of data extraction effectively redefine the future of kinetic and non-kinetic warfare. Programmed within such systems, the operative and rationalizing logic of algorithms are, Downey proposes, complicit in increasingly reductive determinations of what constitutes life and death in conflict zones.</p>
Authors: Neja Berger
Contributors: Anthony Downey
Sound Mixer: Staš Kramar
Musician: Gašper Torkar
Curator: Janez Fakin Janša
Producer: Marcela Okretič
Aksioma Institute for Contemporary Art
Part of: Tactics&Practice [podcast]