As the newspaper crisis is not really waning, and the model for verifying the news they used to structure crumbles, could the art world take over? In our societies geared towards a culture of comfort and entertainment, will the museums of the future be one of the privileged refuges for quality information and reflections on disturbing subjects that the vast majority of the news media will no longer be able to deal with due to the lack of of means? It is these kinds of troubling questions – and still others which are more terrifying – that the Forensic Architecture exhibition raises, “a collective of artists, architects, filmmakers, investigative journalists, scientists, of software developers and lawyers ”at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Last summer, the Pegasus spyware affair caused consternation, before being quickly chased away by another piece of news. At that time, we had not realized the frightening implications of this sinister story. Let us recall the facts. In July, 17 international organizations, including Amnesty International, Citizen Lab, Forbidden Stories, revealed how a company, NSO Group Technologies, had helped establish a worldwide spy network using malware. At least 180 journalists from at least ten countries were thus monitored. More than 50,000 phone numbers were spied on thanks in part to a flaw in the WhatsApp application, which NSO sued.
A video in the exhibit reminds us of how, in 2010, Niv Carmi, Shalev Hulio and Omri Lavie formed the NSO Group Technologies which marketed the Pegasus software. It was even sold under the name Phantom to the Los Angeles Police Department. This software allows you to “hack the entire contents of a cell phone, track the location of a phone, turn on its microphone and take pictures with its device.” Nothing less.
In this impeccably narrated exhibition set up at the MAC, Forensic Architecure allows you to review the details of this edifying story and its repercussions. It explains, among other things, the links with the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 by the government of Saudi Arabia. Several individuals spied on testify to the climate of terror surrounding this affair.
Some also talk about fake phishing emails they have received, including those informing them of a friend’s death. This is the case of Carmen Aristegui, famous journalist in Mexico, who investigated the important conflicts of interest of the former president of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto. In a video, Aristegui even explains how his own teenage son also had his phone hacked. And so on… This exhibition by Forensic Architecture, a research agency, based at Goldsmiths, at the University of London, will allow you to grasp the scale and gravity of the situation.
We will be all the more disturbed by this story as Forensic Architecture talks about the fact that NSO has also sold Fleming software to many States, which allows us to establish traceability of individuals who have been in contact with COVID-19 …
Art as a vital welcoming environment
For several decades, the art world and the notion of art have served as a refuge for committed practices. Think of the Gran Fury collective which, between 1987 and 1995, denounced the inaction of governments, the Catholic Church and pharmaceutical companies in relation to the AIDS epidemic. Let us also think of the collective The Yes Men which, in 2009, disturbed the government of Stephen Harper with false press releases from Canada during the conference on the climate in Copenhagen. Each time, the artist status of these “artivists” protected them from prosecution, in addition to serving as a platform for their work. This exhibition shows us even more the need for links between art and activism.
Will this exhibition make us paranoid and followers of conspiracy theories? You can judge by visiting this intelligent exhibition. A demonstration which is a very serious warning on the sometimes wonderful and sometimes totally malicious uses of digital technology.