Berlin, 13 Aug 2022
walking art through Kreuzberg and Alexander Platz, Berlin
with 3 artworks and 2 helpers
mascarade
mexican mask
eye for eye
mascarade
ORIGINAL: Created: 2022
Photos, tissue paper, newsprint, bamboo.
77×130 cm
mascarade
upper part of the picture:
a man with a gold-ringed hand holds the latest trend in front of his mouth
—a gold-plated mask—
children, somewhere in africa, seal their own with cardboard – presumably found in rubbish piles and torn into shape
— stay silent, say nothing—
lower part of the picture:
news and headlines determine people
in black and white print or on social media, a common feature: presented brilliantly.
—media reality becomes human reality—
Kreuzberg, Berlin
mexican mask
ORIGINAL: Created: 2022
Burlap. Acrylics.
78 x 104x 5 cm
mexican mask
a coffee sack labelled:
100% arabica coffee
product of Chiapas Mexico
behind this product—an empty coffee sack—are the producers, people who call themselves zapatistas
indigenous coffee farmers, who live and work in co-operatives in southeast Mexico in the Lacandon Jungle.
I am making the mouthpiece, the spokesperson of this community more visible:
galeano alias subcomandante marcos.
he and his compañeras and compañeros living there—wear masks as an expression of their status:
an indigenous minority, who are fighting for their rights, and as long as they do not have them, they hide their faces, their identity, with a mask, they are nameless in their state
—without identity—
Alexander Platz, Berlin
an eye for an eye
ORIGINAL; Created: 2022
Book pages, pegs, sand, sawdust, mask, dollar note.
74 × 96 x 5 cm
an eye for an eye
a gilded mask forms the centre—a gilded dollar bill is attached below it
—the golden calf—
around the centre, numerous clothes pegs, nailed down.
dominant colours: black/gold
dominant shape: square
burnt book pages (edition of an old testament from 1947) frame the centre.
an eye for an eye
black —white
either — or
Kreuzberg, Berlin
The walk around Kottbusser Tor, Kreuzberg with this artwork ended in a backyard. There I met a security guard from Chechnya. He saw the picture and he explained it to me from the perspective of his own eventful life. I thanked him. Above us on the wall of a house, this poem was written in large letters:
A PLACE
WHERE THE LIVING
MANIFEST THEMSELVES
VISIBLY ABOVE
THE ORDERED
WHERE THE IMPOSSIBILITY
OF INNIHILATION
— AGAIN AND AGAIN—
FROM ITS OPPOSITE
FROM ALL IMAGINABLE OUTCOMES
OF THE NON-STERILE
MAY BLOSSOM
INTO A DARING FUTURE
(on a wall in Berlin – tentative translation from German)
Paintings: Andreas Hahn
Phots: Pablo Krappmann & Andreas Hahn
with many thanks to Pablo Krappmann and Alex Adjan for their help!