The Peng Collective is a group of culture jamming activists based in Berlin.[1] In 2016, the collective was part of the Berlin Biennale,[2] in 2018 of the Manifesta Biennale[3] and the Athens Biennale.[4] In 2018, they were awarded the Aachen Peace Prize. It was originally founded as Peng Media in 1998. Since 2019, the group offers free consulting for climate-change related issues.
Approaches
Through actions of tactical media,[5] the Peng Collective wants to inspire other activists and civil society organisations to be more courageous in their campaigning methods. "Let's learn from our enemies," one of their members says in an interview. "If you look at the economics of corporations, their state of mind is: 'let's look at every possible gray area of laws and use them.' And NGOs just don't do that."[6] They are known for wearing animal masks as sign of biological appropriation whenever they are on stage and to break the law "whenever necessary for the greater good. And yes, the arts can be a greater good."
Projects
googlenest
They got international media attention when they held a presentation called "Your data, our future" in the Name of Google at Europe's largest tech conference re:publica in 2014. All presented products were designed to gather more data from the consumers, claiming that this is in their best interest.[7][8] After Google threatened them to take down their parody website,[9] the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) supported them legally:
"Unfortunately, Google's skin was not thick enough to withstand this relatively gently ribbing. The company wrote a polite note to the collective, expressing their sincere respect for political commentary—but nonetheless demanding that Peng! revise the site and assign the domain name to Google. Note to Google: polite trademark bullying is still bullying.
EFF responded to Google on Peng's behalf, explaining what should be obvious: the site was pure noncommercial political commentary.
External links
References
- Huffington Post: Shell's Berlin 'Science Slam' Event Reportedly Disrupted By Anti-Drilling Activists^
- Discreet, the Intelligence Agency of the Berlin Biennale - artnet News 2016-07-15, retrieved 2016-07-18^
- Evan Moffitt. Manifesta 12: The Dark Heart of the Biennial Shows Human Suffering Out of Control