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11/1 Jurists want to stay in Oudemanhuispoort

8/2 Mayor’s portrait

8/2 Websites for social cohesion

7/2 Spreading tourism proceeds with difficulty

7/2 GroenLinks on districts: Be a man

6/2 Zuideramstel opens new office on Sabbath

5/2 The truth about integration

4/2 Wilders has little support on Amsterdam

3/2 Elite involved in neighbourhood

2/2 Johnnie Walker avoids taxes in Amsterdam

1/2 Rotterdam to tinker with district councils as well

31/1 Wooden rowing boats to disappear from Amstel

31/1 ZeeburgTV launched

27/1 Privacy activists to mess up loyalty card system

27/1 A few were still coughing, but that was an act

27/1 Chrisis in de Baarsjes

26/1 Youth have positive view of districts

24/1 Action groups call for Carmel and Jaffa boycott

24/1 PvdA members dismiss plan for districts

23/1 KLM takes on crisis with new uniform

23/1 District office not squatted

21/1 Merge districts

20/1 Closing squat bar Vrankrijk not necessary

20/1 Cleaners welcome new Schiphol director

18/1 Palestine at the Jewish Historical Museum

18/1 What is the right size for a district?

17/1 PvdA Oost against fewer districts

16/1 Committee: 7 districts by 2010

15/1 Soldiers may attend Afghanistan debate after all

15/1 Bait bike leads to arrest

14/1 Youth for Christ to republish vacancies

13/1 Paintings of the Zuidas

13/1 New Youth for Christ contoversy

11/1 Social cohesion initiative raises eyebrows

10/1 Fewer districts in 2010

10/1 Zuidas: People feel that we are losers

9/1 Fun on the ice - but not for all

9/1 Supermarket coupon fraud thwarted

9/1 I Amsterdam must remain exclusive

8/1 Use term Apartheid in every discussion

8/1 No city kiosk in Amsterdam yet

7/1 Snow

7/1 Fatima Elatik to run Zeeburg

7/1 Municipal managers to return to shop floor

4/1 Police: take photo of strange people

3/1 Gaza protest criticises politicians

1/1 Thousands to protest against attacks on Gaza

1/1 Mustapha Laboui leaves district council

 

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2006 Archive

2005 Archive

 

 

 

 

Feeling uncanny at the Museumplein

31 May 2008 - In 2006, artist Martijn Engelbregt approached people at the Museumplein with a cameraman to ask them how they felt about being filmed. Obviously, they felt uncomfortable. The interviews are fun to watch - until you realise that you are probably being filmed as well while watching them.

The interviews can be seen at the exhibition 'My [Public] Space' at the Dutch Media Art Institute, which deals with the way in which new technologies have blurred the boundaries between private and public spaces. Apparently, people are OK with this: "The urge for expression is greater than the fear of being monitored".

Israeli-born artist Guy Ben-Ner took his wife and children to various Ikea stores to enact short plays that were captured on film. Since they had obtained no permission from Ikea, they had to use a hidden camera and frequently move to other stores.

The Ikea showrooms are designed to convey a sense of 'home'. Ben-Ner and his family took this one step further by walking around in their pyjamas, paging through the Swedish books from the book shelves and sleeping in the beds on display.

Ben-Ner's idea is quite brilliant, but for some reason it does not seem to work as well as it might have.

Jill Magid (photo above), who recently did a project with the Dutch secret service AIVD, has contributed a video she made with the Citywatch department of the Liverpool police. She walked around the city wearing a bright red coat, while speaking on the phone to policemen who followed her on their CCTV screens.

CCTV footage shows her walking amidst shoppers with her eyes closed, following instructions from the police. The effect is quite alienating.

In a Nettime interview, Magid said that she sees CCTV primarily as a tool enabling her 'to see and capture myself (and my body) in a form that I could not experience without its employment'. The political ambivalence of the cameras - maintaining security versus invading privacy - simply makes them 'more loaded' for her.

The exhibition further includes a website by Hasan Elahi, who was questioned by the FBI because his name sounds Arabic. He responded by giving not only the FBI, but also the general public detailed information about his life. His website shows his current whereabouts and contains his bank statements and telephone bills - even photos of the toilets he has been to.

In an interview, Elahi explained that his website is about taking control: "It's a matter of: you want to watch me? Fine! But I'll hold up a mirror at the same time. As a matter of fact, if you want to watch, I'll show you everything you want to watch".

Nederlands Instituut voor Mediakunst. Photo: still from Liverpool Citywatch footage / courtesy Jill Magid

 

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