{"id":7969,"date":"2019-10-09T10:18:02","date_gmt":"2019-10-09T09:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/?p=7969"},"modified":"2020-06-29T21:57:18","modified_gmt":"2020-06-29T20:57:18","slug":"rose-butler-investigatory-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/rose-butler-investigatory-power\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Investigatory Power’ – Exhibition by Rose Butler opens next month at Decad Berlin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Investigatory Power<\/em><\/a> is an exhibition by British artist Rose Butler curated by Mareike Spendel bringing together the artist\u2019s own photographic work captured in the UK Houses of Parliament with video footage and imagery selected from the Stasi Records Agency, Film and Video Archive. As part of her doctoral study which centres on surveillance, Butler considers the ethics and politics of \u2018looking\u2019 through arts practice. The methods, technologies and techniques of the Stasi \u2013 to date the only intelligence agency whose activities have been made publicly accessible, are held as a mirror to new UK surveillance legislation. The Investigatory Powers Act (2016), aka “The Snoopers’ Charter” significantly extends the UK state agencies\u2019 digital surveillance capabilities. The presentation of her research coincides this autumn with the commemorations of the 30 year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany which marked the end of the Cold War, and the (latest) Brexit deadline (the withdrawal of the UK from the EU).<\/p>\n

Selected video materials from the archive include the artist\u2019s three-hour video edit of a surveillance operation covering a public protest on Berlin\u2019s Alexanderplatz on 07\u00a0September 1989, held in opposition to the rigged election results (May 1989). Stasi agents had covered the protest with six different cameras, which Butler \u2018reverse edited\u2019. She re-mapped the time code of the cameras back to real time by replacing sections where the camera had been paused with black gaps. She then synchronised all six cameras so as to reconstruct a panoptical view of the order of events that afternoon.<\/p>\n

Three large serial photographic prints in the centre of the exhibition are the results of Butler\u2019s experiments with a 1960s Minox miniature camera, once a popular device for espionage used on both sides of the iron curtain. The pictures appear in chronological order, as they were taken and developed from the film. They include images taken \u2013 covertly \u2013 inside the Houses of Parliament, where Butler witnessed the debates that preceded the passing of the Investigatory Powers Act over eight months in 2016. This act of law forms the legal basis for digital surveillance in the UK, today the most widely surveilled democratic state in the western world.<\/p>\n

The files, images and data amassed as a result of contemporary state surveillance are missing from the exhibition. The access to comparable material of a fallen state power allows the artist to make this gap visible. What Butler\u2019s experimental approach demonstrates is where the fundamental danger posed by surveillance lies. The state-backed security promise through surveillance inevitably leads to a threat to democracy: the impossibility of making the means and methods of surveillance transparent and controlled by civil society perpetuates the existing power structures that it actively hides. Post Brexit, as the UK Government becomes more and more authoritarian in its approach to parliament, the exhibition aims to expose the threat of UK surveillance\u00a0to democratic freedoms hidden under the guise of security.<\/p>\n

Investigatory Power<\/em><\/strong><\/a>
\nDecad<\/a>, 10961 Berlin<\/strong>
\nSaturday 02 November 2019 – Saturday 04 January 2020<\/strong>
\nOpening event on Friday 01 November 2019, 6PM
\nWith presentation and artist talk on Saturday 02 November 2019, 5PM<\/p>\n

Rose Butler<\/a> is an artist, researcher and senior lecturer of Fine Art at Sheffield Hallam University. She uses adapted technology and custom built software alongside early cameras and analogue technique to make interactive installations, single and multi-screen videos or large-scale photographs. By bringing together photographic and filmic documentation, archival material, political commentary and fiction in her research, she examines the narratives that surround and shape us.<\/p>\n

Research was presented at the Surveillance Beyond Borders and Boundaries Conference, Aarhus, June 2018, NAFAE Living Research: The Urgency of the Arts<\/em>, Royal College of Art, March 2019,\u00a0Free and Open Source Technologies, Arts and Commoning Practices,<\/em>\u00a0University of Nicosia Research Foundation, Cyprus, May 2019,\u00a0Uncertainty, Turbulence and Moving Image Archives<\/em>, University College London, June 2019 and\u00a0Creative Interruptions: A Festival of Arts and Activism<\/em>, British Film Institute, June 2019.<\/p>\n

Work will be exhibited at Decad, Berlin<\/a>\u00a0(the exhibition is curated by Mareike Spendel). in October 2019 followed by NeMe, Cyprus<\/a> in October 2020.\u00a0Come & Go<\/em><\/a>\u00a0was exhibited at Museums of Sheffield 2017<\/a> and received an award as part of the Surveillance Studies Art Prize 2018<\/a>.<\/p>\n

www.rosebutler.com<\/a> |\u00a0rose@rosebutler.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Investigatory Power is an exhibition by British artist Rose Butler curated by Mareike Spendel bringing together the artist\u2019s own photographic work captured in the UK Houses of Parliament with video footage and imagery selected from the Stasi Records Agency, Film and Video Archive. As part of her doctoral study which centres on surveillance, Butler considers the ethics and politics of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8633,"featured_media":7971,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[5,580,1306,399,109,465,142,621],"class_list":["post-7969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-art-and-design-research-centre","tag-berlin","tag-decad","tag-exhibition","tag-fine-art-research","tag-germany","tag-rose-butler","tag-surveillance"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/10\/2019-10-BUTLER-Investigatory-Power-exhibition-Decad-Berlin.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8oFHo-24x","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8298,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/rose-butler-investigatory-power-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":7969,"position":0},"title":"‘Investigatory Power’ – Rose Butler’s exhibition opens at Decad Berlin","author":"Ian Braddick","date":"01\/11\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Investigatory Power was recently reviewed in Curator Space - read the coverage here. Rose also wrote an article for Computer Weekly about her research and the exhibition - see it here. Rose Butler: Investigatory Power Saturday 02 November 2019 to Saturday 04 January 2020 Decad Berlin Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Banner image for 'Investigatory Powers' - an exhibition at Decad Berlin by Rose Butler","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/10\/2019-10-BUTLER-Investigatory-Power-exhibition-Decad-Berlin.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/10\/2019-10-BUTLER-Investigatory-Power-exhibition-Decad-Berlin.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/10\/2019-10-BUTLER-Investigatory-Power-exhibition-Decad-Berlin.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/10\/2019-10-BUTLER-Investigatory-Power-exhibition-Decad-Berlin.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8293,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/rose-butler-open-eye\/","url_meta":{"origin":7969,"position":1},"title":"Rose Butler hosts artist talk at Open Eye Gallery Liverpool – Thursday 14 November 2019","author":"Ian Braddick","date":"20\/10\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Rose Butler Artist Talk as part of LOOK Photo Biennial 2019 Thursday 14 November 2019 6PM - 8PM Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool Find out more on Facebook and Eventbrite. Rose Butler discusses the use of alternative soft \/ hardware and surveillance within her practice as part of LOOK Photo Biennial\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"2019-11 BUTLER Rose - Open Eye Gallery - Investigatory Powers","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/10\/2019-11-BUTLER-Rose-Open-Eye-Gallery-Investigatory-Powers.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/10\/2019-11-BUTLER-Rose-Open-Eye-Gallery-Investigatory-Powers.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/10\/2019-11-BUTLER-Rose-Open-Eye-Gallery-Investigatory-Powers.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/10\/2019-11-BUTLER-Rose-Open-Eye-Gallery-Investigatory-Powers.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13333,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/rose-butler-takes-part-in-archiving-care-hosted-by-neme-september-2024\/","url_meta":{"origin":7969,"position":2},"title":"Rose Butler takes part in ‘Archiving Care’ hosted by NeMe – September 2024","author":"Phoebe Bolton","date":"25\/11\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Traditionally archives perform abstractions, suggest connections and compatibilities, and offer a perspective. Although our call for speakers asked for a critical re-interpretation of archives as historically infected collections with \u201c\u2018politically dubious biases, patriarchal, colonial agendas, and represent ideological modes of control,\u201d and discuss their new challenges n the age of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"ADMRC\"","block_context":{"text":"ADMRC","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/tag\/admrc\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2024\/12\/Archiving_care-boolet_compressed.jpg?fit=419%2C595&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12794,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/rose-butler-aalto-art-of-research\/","url_meta":{"origin":7969,"position":3},"title":"Rose Butler presents doctoral research at VIII Art of Research conference, Aalto University Finland","author":"Ian Braddick","date":"22\/11\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Rose Butler will be presenting now completed doctoral research at the VIII Art of Research 2023 conference at Aalto University, Finland next week. The theme of the eighth Art of Research conference is \u201cRe-Imagining\u201d, addressing the various gestures of going back, returning to take another look, or for starting anew.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Doctoral research"","block_context":{"text":"Doctoral research","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/category\/doctoral-research\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Film frame from archival footage at the Stasi Records Agency, Berlin depicting agents during briefcase camera training in the 1970s. Ref: MfS+HA_VIII+Fi+042. Image courtesy of Rose Butler","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2024\/01\/MfSHA_VIIIFi042-.Still015.jpg?fit=720%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2024\/01\/MfSHA_VIIIFi042-.Still015.jpg?fit=720%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2024\/01\/MfSHA_VIIIFi042-.Still015.jpg?fit=720%2C576&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2024\/01\/MfSHA_VIIIFi042-.Still015.jpg?fit=720%2C576&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7731,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/maw2019-butler-atherton\/","url_meta":{"origin":7969,"position":4},"title":"‘Autonomy’ – Fine Art’s Rose Butler and Michelle Atherton featured at the Middlesbrough Art Weekender 2019 exhibition next week","author":"Ian Braddick","date":"19\/09\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Middlesbrough Art Weekender 2019 The Middlesbrough Art Weekender (MAW) is an annual contemporary arts festival held in Middlesbrough. From 26 to 29 September 2019, MAW brings a full programme of events, exhibitions, performances and screenings to venues across the town centre. The focus of MAW2019 is\u00a0autonomy\u00a0and local, regional and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"2019-09 BUTLER and ATHERTON Middlesbrough Art Weekender banner - images courtesy of Rose and Michelle","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/09\/2019-09-BUTLER-and-ATHERTON-Middlesbrough-Art-Weekender-II.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/09\/2019-09-BUTLER-and-ATHERTON-Middlesbrough-Art-Weekender-II.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/09\/2019-09-BUTLER-and-ATHERTON-Middlesbrough-Art-Weekender-II.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/09\/2019-09-BUTLER-and-ATHERTON-Middlesbrough-Art-Weekender-II.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13026,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/rose-butler-to-present-at-surveillance-studies-biennial-in-slovenia-may-2024\/","url_meta":{"origin":7969,"position":5},"title":"Rose Butler to present at Surveillance Studies Biennial in Slovenia May 2024","author":"lh1112","date":"12\/04\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Rose Butler has been accepted to present at the Surveillance Studies Biennial, Ljubljana, Slovenia May 2024. The 10th Biennial Surveillance Studies Network\/Surveillance & Society Conference #SSN2024 will be hosted by the Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. #SSN2024\u00a028-31 May\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2024\/04\/Photographs-from-Varosha.00_00_52_05.Still001.jpg?fit=850%2C478&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2024\/04\/Photographs-from-Varosha.00_00_52_05.Still001.jpg?fit=850%2C478&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2024\/04\/Photographs-from-Varosha.00_00_52_05.Still001.jpg?fit=850%2C478&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2024\/04\/Photographs-from-Varosha.00_00_52_05.Still001.jpg?fit=850%2C478&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7969"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9299,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7969\/revisions\/9299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}