HOW THE LEITMOTIF ‘POWER’ CAME ABOUT
For the leitmotiv «POWER», each of the 4 artworks are constructed in two parts: an upper and lower part.
UPPER PART OF THE PICTURE
power—powerlessness—autonomy
These three expressions came to mind when I saw the theatre play:
Unveiling: A Hymn to the Four Winds, which was developed and performed at the Teatro Mayor Colombia in cooperation with the ‘Truth Commission’.
View the play at this link (Teatro Mayor) (opens in a new window)
The scene with plainly dressed people carrying distinguished dinner guests on their shoulders, seemed to me a fitting image of the global reality in the exercise of power — an expression of ordinary people carrying an elite on their shoulders. An elite that determines them.
I took a screenshot of this scene and used it for the upper part of the picture, mirroring it on all four sides. The upper motif underwent a colour change for 3 of the 4 art pieces. For the fourth one, I broke and burnt the surface.
LOWER PART OF THE PICTURE
The lower part charcterises the following 3 motifs:
«the stock market», «the QR code» and «artificial intelligence».
We are confronted with all 3 of these now institutionalised inventions on a daily basis and deal with them—more or less—consciously. All 3 topics have a twofold aspect: on the one hand, they are proving to be practical and helpful in everyday life and, on the other, they have enormous potential for misuse.
«I am»
The fourth motif – «I am» is like a prerequisite for encountering the aspects of the other three societal systems with attention and clarity of thought in order to be aware of their dual nature and two faces, continually. Their influence can dominate and abuse me—or—I may learn to deal with them actively and use them consciously.
After completion, all 4 artworks were taken to the following places in Berlin and carried around as walking exhibitions:
Potsdamer Platz – Brandenburg Gate – Technical Museum Berlin – Tempelhofer Feld.
The ambience of each picture and the resulting encounters were documented photographically.
Many thanks!
Many thanks to the volunteers who helped me with the ‘walking exhibitions’:
Janosch Howard (Potsdamer Platz & Tempelhofer Feld); Kai (Brandenburg Gate); Christine Howard & Kai (the German Museum of Technology)
MACHT — POWER — PODER
4 Straßenaktionen — 4 Street Campaigns — 4 Campañas callejeras
