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In//Between #4: Private Public and In Between

(text of the exhibition)

The notions of Public and Private are complex, as they relate to multiple aspects of our lives, and affect us by forcing a constant de- cision-making process that dictates our conditions of safety. What is public, and what is private, becomes an issue of binary opposites when there is an obscure and confusing area that lies in between. Are public and private separate, or can they be the same? Who is able to draw the distinction? What is at stake when defining private and public? Is this all related to safety; and if so, of whom?

In the attempt to answer these questions, one can start to differentiate between public and private as social constructs that establish boundaries around space to create safety, and that are channeled through our personal morals and cultures. Most people interact daily with computers, phones, alarms, surveillance systems, text messages, video chats, bank accounts, and data; the most inti- mate scenarios of human relations and domestic space navigate these boundaries . New forms of data and digital communication attempt to redefine the relationship between the user and the provider. Examples are the choice to accept or decline terms and conditions, our engagement with social media and the appearance of new concerns that touch the most intimate stories, thoughts and creative processes of our contemporary living, where more than one sector claims ownership. Norberto Bobbio examines these in the text “The Great Dichotomy: private/public ” in the publication Democracy and Dictatorship: The Nature and Limits of State Power, where he focuses on the distinctions of these as polar opposites, private and public as domains to maintain control and power as it extends into the political realms of society.

In order to explore the relationships between private and public in the physical and psychological aspects of our lives, we generated artistic responses challenging these notions that tend to focus on areas between the two. Who is in charge of this so-called privacy? What scenario or scenarios remind us of this issue? When do these models function, and is it by choice or imposed? How do we deal with these in our domestic space?

In this exhibition, artists Funda Zeynep Ayguler, Ioana Butloc, Lionel Cruet, Marcel Everling, Francesco Gioacchini, Jeremy Knowles, Valentina Michelini and Marie-Charlotte Nouza created an art installation that reminds us of the living environment, challenging the notions of private and public by engaging with an interactive, thought provoking space that aims to find new ways to discuss and make visible these issues and to spark new ways of thinking about this subject.