Dead Man’s Switch. An art shield to protect the life of Julian Assange

Dead Man’s Switch is an art shield. It is not a human shield: that is what terrorists produce. Dead Man’s Switch, on the contrary, is a tool for negotiation. “Taking hostage” is one of the most common languages used by the power structure. In his artistic career, Andrei Molodkin, developed the method of mirroring the language of power within the formal parameters of Political Minimalism. In the case of the Dead Man’s Switch, the Medusa Gorgon mirror used to hit the power structure has been done by taking hostage the most important of capitalistic symbols, its icons and values. In this catastrophic time, to destroy art is much more taboo than to destroy the life of a person. Arianna Mondin, applied Interpol’s criminal investigation method to the field of architecture in her PhD to unveil the connection between architecture and oil. She used this method in the development strategy of Dead Man’s Switch. The talk will focus on the process of realizing the Dead Man’s Switch to mirror the language of power to release Julian Assange from prison. In particular, it will clarify the operation to involve artists and collectors in participating by donating their artworks to secure the survival of the most consequential political prisoner of our times. The project involved also specialists in security, negotiation, hardware and software, all together organised in a system aimed at reprogramming the power structure. The talk will conclude by explaining the technical details, software and hardware, and the conceptualisation of the counter as a method of escalation and resetting the system.