Dates: 6 June - 4 November, 2018
Location: Palazzo Ajutamicristo, Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Manifesta 12 is the twelveth edition of the European Nomadic Biennial, founded in the early 1990s as a European biennial of contemporary art striving to enhance artistic and cultural exchanges after the end of Cold War. Manifesta is run by its original founder, Dutch historian Hedwig Fijen, and managed by a permanent team of international specialists.
Article 11 (2018), on view in Manifesta 12, is a project by Tania Bruguera in collaboration with Francesco Cinquerrui, Francesco D’Amore, Sveva D’Antonio, Giuseppe Firrincielli, Corrado Gugliotta, Maddalena Migliore, Gianfranco Di Pietro, Guglielmo Manenti, Pino Pardo, Maria D. Rapicavoli, Alessandra Saviotti, Velentina Terranova (Movimento No Muos).
Documents selected by Tania Bruguera from the activists’ archives narrate a story of an ongoing battle near the small town of Niscemi in southeastern Sicily, where the United States Navy has implemented a new global communication system called MUOS (Mobile User Objective System). It operates as a global cellular service provider to support war from a distance, coordinating and controlling US drones and unmanned aircraft. The base station in Sicily is one of four; the others are in Hawaii, Australia and Virginia. The location for the three gigantic parabolic antennas in Niscemi was chosen very strategically: in the middle of the last cork forest in Sicily, hidden amongst hills. Since 2009 the inhabitants of the area have been fighting against the MUOS because of the antennas’ harmful effects on human health and the environment.
MDR is participating with her work M.U.O.S., Construction Site (2013), and HF (3-30MHz) (2013). The first piece is one of three large size photo providing an overview of different stages during the construction of the MUOS (Mobile User Objective System) – a controversial system of satellite communications at ultra-high dangerous frequency built on the Niscemi (SIcily) US Naval Radio Transmitter Facility (NRTF) base. HF (3-30MHz) (2013) is a photograph of the Naval Radio Transmitter Facility (NRTF) Niscemi established in the south-central part of Sicily. 26 of the 46 trasmitters antennas are HF transmitters (High Frequency, electromagnetic waves between 3 and 30 MHz).
