DemoKino - Virtual Biopolitical Agora

(2007 02 05 15:48)

an Anti-entertainment Interactive Movie that develops according to your vote!

What is DemoKino?

DemoKino is a virtual biopolitical parliament that through topical film parables provides the audience (voters) with the opportunity to decide on issues that are, paradoxically, becoming the essence of modern politics: the questions of life.

Eight short movies, depicting an anonymous young man in his everyday life, are presented to the audience as “parliamentary bills”.

The protagonist considers contemporary ethical dilemmas such as abortion, cloning, genetic modified organism, same sex marriages, water privatization, copyleft, euthanasia and therapeutic cloning, carefully thinking over the “pros and cons” of each addressed topic in a specific room of his apartment.

At the end of each short movie, viewers vote for or against the issue at hand, with the majority of the votes determining through which door in the apartment the protagonist enters next. He then proceeds to the next room and, therefore, to the next dilemma.

In other words, the private geography of the protagonist’s daily routine is determined in a referendum-like way.

The project questions not only the utopia of contemporary virtual forum that is supposed to open ways for a more direct and influential participation but also points out a much deeper problem of modern democracy (virtual as well). DemoKino is a virtual parliament that clearly displays how politics comes before law. Law is just a utopist and redundant technical procedure to cover the political essence.

DemoKino’s Author: Janez Janša
Production: Aksioma – Institute for Contemporary Arts, Ljubljana, 2003/06

Comments

"With the interactive mimicry of democratic decision-making, DemoKino lucidly points out the symptoms of contemporary politics. Using the interactive form in order to practically realize the utopia of direct activity, it also demonstrates the deep problems of this kind of activity. The project simulates sessions on ethical and economic dilemmas, which we witness on a daily basis, as well as the form of the political life surrounding these bio-political questions.”

Dr. Bojana Kunst - Philosopher, contemporary art theoretician and vice-president of the Slovenian Society of Aesthetics.

To enter Demokino visit this site.

Extra information about DemoKino is available at: Aksioma's website.

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