“naked bandit / here, not here / white sovereign” […] addresses places where suspects are held, and where their rights as citizens and their legal status as prisoners of war are suspended. In their interactive installation […], Christian Hübler, Alexander Tuchacek and Yvonne Wilhelm have created a setting in which the arbitrariness of anonymous free-floating power can be perceived, but can also be made inoperative. On entering the room, we are surrounded by a floating mass of shiny black helium-filled balloons. A silver zeppelin hovers at head height, humming quietly, fragile and light as a feather. The airship, fitted with an orientation camera, is constantly scanning the room. It is programmed to follow whichever balloon is furthest away, but also reacts […] to people. […] It is easy to dodge the airship’s attacks, though our respect for its fragile technology makes us unwilling to hit back. The indefatigable and faceless latent aggression of the “white sovereign”, as Knowbotic Research call the airship, triggers a fear that at times becomes whimsical fascination.

In this spatially oppressive situation, an anonymous male voice repeatedly utters the words “naked bandit / here, not here” in a tone of command that is mechanically confirmed by a second voice representing the “naked bandit”. In this way, the sound of the installation specifies the vague status of the prisoner stripped of all rights, who is languishing incarcerated – “here” – in a very real sense. But whose legal existence is denied – “not here”.

There is also a computer monitor in the room […] urging us to intervene. “Press button to escape.” The […] instruction is ambiguous. Knowbotic Research uses the software code as a creative medium, designing and modelling digital actions instead of forms and figures. Not only can the programme be re-started, but it is coded to change itself and make the control functions of the “white sovereign” process inoperative. If enough visitors take the initiative, the programme is re-fomed until it triggers a third voice that interrupts the monotonous dialogue: “Naked bandit: here, now!” The designation puts an end to the bandit’s linguistic hovering – and the motor of the “white sovereign” stops.

(Excerpt from: Annina Zimmermann: “Suspended Rights, Free Floating Power” in: “Mapping new territories” Swiss media art international, Edited by plug in art and new media, Neue Kunst Halle St. Gallen and Swiss Federal office of culture, distributed by Christoph Merian Verlag, Basel, Switzerland 2005.)