Territorial Phantom with AES+F Group (RU), Yael Bartana (IL/NL), Cao Fei (CN), Yolande Harris (UK), Marine Hugonnier (F), Karen Lancel (NL), Lucas Lenglet (NL), Raqs Media Collective (IN), State of Sabotage (SoS), Artur Zmijewski (PL) :: March 29 - May 12, 2008 :: Opening March 28, 5:00 pm :: Netherlands Media Art Institute, Keizersgracht 264, 1016 EV Amsterdam.

Employing a whole mix of attitudes, viewpoints and forms, the artists in Territorial Phantom respond to occupying and possessing space. In today’s culture, based around claiming and possession, organizations, businesses and countries appropriate ever more space, by privatizing public space or bringing ‘democracy’ to countries, and where necessary eliminating opponents.

Specific zones such as a city, a mountain range, or simply a piece of paper are central to the artworks in this exhibition. Territorial Phantom is about not only physical, but also virtual and symbolic spaces. Spaces can be shaped and changed in character by political, cultural or personal interventions. In addition, places are often linked to personal and collective memory. They involve boundaries, or perhaps to put it better, thresholds, which extend beyond physical barriers or time. Territorial Phantom examines the ways in which the significance of a place changes through acts, emotions, dreams and memories. Or is it perhaps only our perspective which shifts? How do we ourselves deal with space, with occupying space, and how do we define our own position in a country and in regard to various territories?