Propaganda Station
(Project by Jonas Staal)
Installation / Panopticum
Ostrava / PLATO
City Gallery of Contemporary Art
by Jonas Staal
Propaganda Station aims to make visible the various contemporary propagandas that actively shape our world today. The central installation is designed as an inversed panopticon: instead of surveilling the visitor, it provides the viewer a position of counter-surveillance over the work of propagandists that influence our everyday life.
Propaganda Station consists of various ‘cells.’ Each cell introduces a different contemporary propaganda, such as Ultranationalist Propaganda, Alt-Right Propaganda, Liberal Propaganda, Financialization Propaganda, Empire Propaganda, Climate Propaganda and Geological Propaganda. Overseeing these different propaganda cells, the viewer becomes part of a reversed balance of power: now it is them surveilling the propagandists, instead of the other way around.
At the center of the installation is a ‘propaganda school,’ where different artists, academics, journalists, theorists, campaigners and activists give lectures, workshops and trainings in the field of propaganda analysis, and (counter)propaganda work.
Colophon
Project | Propaganda Station
Commisioned by | Studio Jonas Staal
Type | Installation / Panopticum / School / Exhibition
Date | 2023-2024
Location 1 | Ostrava, PLATO Gallery of Contemporary Art
Location 2 | Skopje, MoCA Museum of Contemporary Art
Location 3 | Zagreb, MSU Museum of Contemporary Art
Architecture | Paul Kuipers
Visual Identity | Remco van Bladel
Project Coordination | Veerle Driessen & Nadine Gouders
Photography Ostrava (top) | Jan Kolsky & Ernie Buts
Images (down) | Paul Kuipers
Jeremy Bentham
1791
Location: Zagreb, MSU, Museum of Contemporary Art
Assembling Instruction
Location: Skopje, MoCA Museum of Contemporary Art
Floorplan