Folklore Museum Graz

Helpful tips for digital self-defense

Director Claudia Unger and curator Elisabeth Schimana at the Graz Folklore Museum(Bild: UMJ/J. J. Kucek)

In the "DigiDic" exhibition at the Graz Folklore Museum, Elisabeth Schimana and her team from the Institute for Media Archaeology call for a more careful approach to our digital data. A handbook and workshops are intended to support us in this.

Who benefits from the data that we entrust to the World Wide Web every day, and to whom does it belong? Based on these questions, artist and curator Elisabeth Schimana, head of the IMA - Institute for Media Archaeology, is showing the exhibition "DigiDic" at the Graz Folklore Museum. She uses it to discuss the not exactly reassuring trend towards monopolization and highlights its dangers.

We give away our data gullibly
Data is not only traded like gold by companies worth billions (such as Amazon, Meta, Google on the one hand; Shein, Temu or TikTok on the other), it also represents power. In China, this power is already linked to politics and illustrates how data is used in this interplay: Total control, a need-creation machine calculated by algorithms and the loss of all privacy are the consequences.

It looks like an exciting game, but it is bitterly serious: "Catch me! Because you can", a work by Ellen Dressler, Lara Falkenberg, Leonie Dunke and Julia Kraft(Bild: UMJ/J. J. Kucek)

With "DigiDic", the IMA raises awareness of these processes, makes them visible and transparent and shows possibilities for digital self-defense. "Responsible handling of our data is becoming increasingly important, especially as awareness of the risks and dangers seems to be low," says Claudia Unger, Head of Ethnology.

Workshops and handbook
In the "DigiDic" summer workshop (August 22-24), workshops, lectures, discussions and concerts curated by Eva Ursprung will shed artistic light on the topic and explore it in greater depth. The exhibition also includes a handbook with practical tips on protecting your digital identity.