Panel discussion
100
Lørdag 22.februar
18:00–19:30
On the crossroad between freedom and security, we call for more liberty while also demanding greater safety. This dilemma is reinforced in our current time of geopolitical instability. While the trust in our democratic and international institutions are fading, strengthening physical measures like fences, surveillance and border control gains broad political support.
The less visible control measures, however, where high tech companies and other private interests to an increasing extent are influencing our personal lives and disrupting social and political infrastructure, proceeds more out of the radar.
What happens when the loss of trust is replaced by more control, and the boundaries between who holds that control, become unclear? What safety does control represent —and how can we assure that the control does not get out of control? For this festival edition of Transborder Café we invite political, theoretical and artistic perspectives on the controllable and un-controllable futures.
Participants:
Elisabeth Brun: Visual artist, filmmaker and media scholar
Magnus Mæland: Mayor of Sør-Varanger from The Conservative Party (Høyre)
Oleg Pachenkov: Sociologist and urbanist
Johanna Vehkoo: Award-winning journalist and non-fiction author
Kine Olsen (moderator): Senior advisor at the UN Association
As part of the discussion event, we will screen an excerpt from Big Tech Blues by artist Elisabeth Brun, a poetic film-essay reflecting on life in rural communities in the age of Big tech, explored from a personal perspective. The filmmaker’s abandoned childhood school in the small village of Strengelvåg, Northern Norway, was bought up by Elon Musk´s SpaceX Starlink programme; an event which sparked reflections on what is at stake, as rapidly evolving digital technology infiltrates all aspects of human life. The film is developed with the artists Eivind H. Natvig (cinematography), with music/sound by Alexander Rishaug and will premiere in 2025.