disorderlyvision
08-10-2009, 08:51 AM
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Swiss_artist_fights_biometric_passport_999.html
From his self-chosen exile in Berlin, a Swiss-born artist has been battling Switzerland's decision to introduce a biometric passport.
Adam Tellmeister places the scalpel on his brand new Swiss passport and cuts right through its blood-red outer fabric. It's the first cut of an operation -- broadcast live on the Internet -- that is aimed at removing the chip from his new biometric passport.
Performed in late February, as a finissage of his exhibition on biometrics (in one installation, Tellmeister recreated the chip with hair, skin, bodily fluids and other personal items), the operation meant to protest what Tellmeister says is the newest form of "performance-based racism": classifying people according to criteria he fears will make it onto the chip once the biometric passport becomes a part of daily life. That it will is likely: The Swiss Parliament gave its green light to the biometric passport in March. On May 17, a referendum was the final hurdle for its introduction.
Aided by a low turnout and a government campaign in favor of the new passport, Switzerland voted for its introduction by a super-thin majority of 50.1 percent, with just 5,504 votes separating the two sides.
The government says the new passport is forge-proof and more convenient.
"We will do our best to ensure that personal data in the fingerprint register is secure," Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said.
Yet privacy activists in many countries question what exactly the chip will contain, and whether the stored data violates civil liberties. They also say the chip can be cracked by hackers.
Tellmeister suspects that companies will use the data, stored in Switzerland in a national data center, for commercial purposes; and he fears that in the future, the government may brand "politically troublesome people like me" with the help of the chip in their passports. "You should at least be able to chose whether you want one or not," he told United Press International over drinks near his Prenzlauer Berg apartment.
A highly political artist, Tellmeister has been a thorn in the side of Swiss authorities for some time. One of his exhibitions featured works revealing Swiss military secrets -- Gregor Gysi, today the head of Germany's far-left Left Party, opened it.
Tellmeister fled Switzerland in 1986 to avoid the military draft. He became the first Swiss national to apply for political asylum in Germany, and ended up in Berlin after a stint in the Netherlands and a short return to Switzerland, where he was arrested for spray-painting a government building. His trial in Zurich finished without him -- he escaped the courthouse during a toilet break. Friends smuggled him out of Switzerland and into Berlin, where he has been living and performing ever since, and where he has developed into somewhat of an underground art star.
But Tellmeister lived in Berlin without papers or an identity card; attempts to legalize his stay or open up possibilities for a return to Switzerland all failed.
That is until last year, when Tellmeister's success in the art scene brought him into big-name German publications like Der Spiegel -- and a new chance for life in Switzerland when the government granted Tellmeister a passport under his new name.
The Art Hall Lucerne planned to show his works, and everything was set up for the artist's return to his home country after over two decades of illegal absence.
But the exhibition never materialized -- Tellmeister says it was canceled for political reasons shortly before his planned chip operation. He claims the curator, out of fear of losing government grant money, tried to convince him to soften his guerrilla-like approach.
"But I am not a feel-good artist," Tellmeister said.
His name is a pseudonym based on his childhood idol William Tell, a legendary figure of disputed historical authenticity who is said to have lived in the alpine canton of Uri in Switzerland in the early 14th century. It's fittingly ironic that Tell was considered an outlaw before becoming a national hero, one who stood up against authorities.
"Tell would have fought the biometric passport," the artist said. "Because if there is a biometric passport, a non-conformist figure like Tell isn't possible anymore."
Tellmeister's new exhibition is on display until Aug. 20 at the Wernicke and Hasshoff gallery in Prenzlauer Berg.
From his self-chosen exile in Berlin, a Swiss-born artist has been battling Switzerland's decision to introduce a biometric passport.
Adam Tellmeister places the scalpel on his brand new Swiss passport and cuts right through its blood-red outer fabric. It's the first cut of an operation -- broadcast live on the Internet -- that is aimed at removing the chip from his new biometric passport.
Performed in late February, as a finissage of his exhibition on biometrics (in one installation, Tellmeister recreated the chip with hair, skin, bodily fluids and other personal items), the operation meant to protest what Tellmeister says is the newest form of "performance-based racism": classifying people according to criteria he fears will make it onto the chip once the biometric passport becomes a part of daily life. That it will is likely: The Swiss Parliament gave its green light to the biometric passport in March. On May 17, a referendum was the final hurdle for its introduction.
Aided by a low turnout and a government campaign in favor of the new passport, Switzerland voted for its introduction by a super-thin majority of 50.1 percent, with just 5,504 votes separating the two sides.
The government says the new passport is forge-proof and more convenient.
"We will do our best to ensure that personal data in the fingerprint register is secure," Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said.
Yet privacy activists in many countries question what exactly the chip will contain, and whether the stored data violates civil liberties. They also say the chip can be cracked by hackers.
Tellmeister suspects that companies will use the data, stored in Switzerland in a national data center, for commercial purposes; and he fears that in the future, the government may brand "politically troublesome people like me" with the help of the chip in their passports. "You should at least be able to chose whether you want one or not," he told United Press International over drinks near his Prenzlauer Berg apartment.
A highly political artist, Tellmeister has been a thorn in the side of Swiss authorities for some time. One of his exhibitions featured works revealing Swiss military secrets -- Gregor Gysi, today the head of Germany's far-left Left Party, opened it.
Tellmeister fled Switzerland in 1986 to avoid the military draft. He became the first Swiss national to apply for political asylum in Germany, and ended up in Berlin after a stint in the Netherlands and a short return to Switzerland, where he was arrested for spray-painting a government building. His trial in Zurich finished without him -- he escaped the courthouse during a toilet break. Friends smuggled him out of Switzerland and into Berlin, where he has been living and performing ever since, and where he has developed into somewhat of an underground art star.
But Tellmeister lived in Berlin without papers or an identity card; attempts to legalize his stay or open up possibilities for a return to Switzerland all failed.
That is until last year, when Tellmeister's success in the art scene brought him into big-name German publications like Der Spiegel -- and a new chance for life in Switzerland when the government granted Tellmeister a passport under his new name.
The Art Hall Lucerne planned to show his works, and everything was set up for the artist's return to his home country after over two decades of illegal absence.
But the exhibition never materialized -- Tellmeister says it was canceled for political reasons shortly before his planned chip operation. He claims the curator, out of fear of losing government grant money, tried to convince him to soften his guerrilla-like approach.
"But I am not a feel-good artist," Tellmeister said.
His name is a pseudonym based on his childhood idol William Tell, a legendary figure of disputed historical authenticity who is said to have lived in the alpine canton of Uri in Switzerland in the early 14th century. It's fittingly ironic that Tell was considered an outlaw before becoming a national hero, one who stood up against authorities.
"Tell would have fought the biometric passport," the artist said. "Because if there is a biometric passport, a non-conformist figure like Tell isn't possible anymore."
Tellmeister's new exhibition is on display until Aug. 20 at the Wernicke and Hasshoff gallery in Prenzlauer Berg.