Vienna Insight by Karin Sawetz,
publisher Fashionoffice
3 July 2013

Anonymity - pro and contra

At the same time while the airplane of Bolivian President Evo Morales still waited in Vienna to continue its travel back home (some countries suggested leaker Edward J. Snowden on board and refused the airspace traverse), I attended the press conference for the exhibition 'Faceless' about people's popularizing and/or anonymizing strategies at quartier21 at the Museumsquartier.

fig.: The photo shows artist Frank Schallmaier speaking with curator Bogomir Doringer (right) who toured with journalists through the exhibition 'Faceless' on 3 July 2013 at quartier21, Museumquartier in Vienna; 'Faceless' is on show between 4 July and 1 September 2013. Both are standing in front of Frank Schallmaier's photo wall 'Flash' which shows images of men who present themselves online anonymously more or less dressed.

The exhibition 'Faceless' is about privacy protection strategies which grew constantly with the defenses against terror acts since 9/11 - it's just like the cat bites itself into the tail: nobody wants terrorists, but everybody wants to protect his/her own privacy while using popularizing platforms like Google+ or Facebook.

I can recommend the exhibition 'Faceless' as it provides views on today's privacy/popularizing issues from fashion, art, media perspectives such as masks by Maison Martin Margiela or images by Marina Abramović or Frank Schallmaier (exhibition folder).

The press conference was over shortly before the plane of Bolivian President Evo Morales left Vienna back home with one stop in Spain - without Snowden on board.


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