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 EACH PICTURE
POWER—POWERLESSNESS—AUTONOMY
These three expressions came to mind when I saw the theatre play:
Unveiling: A Hymn to the Four Winds
The drama was developed and performed at the Teatro Mayor Colombia in cooperation with the ‘Truth Commission’.
A scene with plainly dressed people carrying distinguished dinner guests on their shoulders, seemed to me a fitting reflection of the global reality in the exercise of power — an expression of ordinary people carrying the 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 colour changes for 3 of the 4 artworks. For the fourth one, I tore and burnt the surface.
LOWER PART OF THE PICTURE
The lower part portrays the following 3 motifs:
Stock Market – QR code – Artificial Intelligence
We are confronted with all 3 of these now institutionalised innovative formulations on a daily basis and have to deal with them —more or less— consciously. All 3 have a double sided 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 and abuse.
I AM
The fourth motif — I am — is presented here as a prerequisite for approaching the aspects of the other 3 pictures with attentiveness and clarity of thought, in order to remain aware of their dual nature and two faces. Their impact can control and exploit me —or— I can learn to engage with them actively and deal with them consciously.
After completion, all 4 artworks were taken to the following places in Berlin and carried around as walking exhibitions and documented photographically:
Potsdamer Platz – Brandenburg Gate – Technical Museum – 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)
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