CoLab is pleased to present AGAINST FREEDOM - A Discussion Panel

Tuesday, July 28th, 6pm-9pm at Galatos
Student Fee: $ 5.00
Regular Fee: $ 10.00
(Includes a complimentary wine or beer)
For more info see attached flyer and click here to register for this event.

Technologies have emerged that radically enhance contemporary governments/corporations ability to collect and manage individual citizen/consumer's images and data. These developments have taken place in a landscape of increasing anxiety regarding corporate profits and national security. In conjunction with the residency of Matt Kenyon with AUT's Co-Lab and the concurrent exhibition of his collaborative work with the SWAMP collective at MIC Tio Rerehiko, we are staging a panel discussion aimed at extending a critical engagement with some of the key concerns exhibited by SWAMP and keenly articulated by Matt. This discussion invites scholars and artists from widely different disciplines to explore this theme and its continued implications for our lives today.

SWAMP (an acronym for Studies of Work Atmospheres and Mass Production) attempts to redirect the configuration of contemporary culture, and in the process reveal flaws and contradictions prevalent in its systems. A recurring concern for the collective is the corruption of popular culture at the hands of sensationalism, mass media and corporate entities like fast-food chains and big box retail; things which themselves construct the very foundations of everyday culture.

For the panel discussion, Swamp artist's Matt Kenyon and Doug Easterly will explore notions of 'consumer freedom' by presenting a series of the collective's guerrilla new media artworks.