Ignas Krunglevičius
Dark Pool
»Stop being distracted. Disconnect. Join the Dark Pool and protect your privacy.« So concludes each one of a series of short videos produced by artist Ignas Krunglevičius: three commercials for a fictitious company selling radio-frequency jammers – devices that block wi-fi, GSM, and 3G signals within a ten-meter radius. This equipment is actually available on the market but illegal to use.
The title of the work refers to a term in finance: a »dark pool of liquidity« is a trading volume not offered in public exchange or openly available to the public. Such transactions stay hidden from the public eye. The artist borrows the advertisement text from the Neo-Luddite anti-technology movement, whose members use the jammers. Although these products, inaccessible to mainstream media, are sold in a low-tech way through anonymous channels on the web, their makers are similar to huge hardware and software corporations: They sell their ideology and employ branding, manufacturing, and logistics for the purpose.
This video series, by expressing a willingness to block digital signals, weaponizes the idea of digital disconnection. It is an example of a controversial reaction to surveillance and the rapid development of technologies.