The extensive social, economic, and political processes of debt are deeply ingrained in realities, histories and representations on global and local scales. Between promise, coercion, and presumed guilt, an abstract understanding of debt—despite its formative impact on people and environments— is based on a suggestive charge and impersonal measurement. In the exhibition, close readings of materials and narratives follow such prevalent notions and representations, modes of extraction, and possibilities of withdrawal.
The images and entanglements that the artists address in You Breathe Differently Under the Weight. Debt and Credit are part of an indebted existence in which the abstract operations of debt are reflected in relationships. They address the traces of human agency without, however, representing it concretely; they are inscribed in landscapes, in queer readings of (historical) narratives, as well as in their scales and measurabilities.
Moyra Davey focuses on money and its dual characterization by power and circulation in a simple and concise way. Toon Fibbe comments on the precursors of today’s intangible financial markets around 1700. In her video work The Treasury, Lili Huston-Herterich explores the story of an impoverished, formerly alcoholic artist who occupies an abandoned bank building for decades to live and work in. In this way, she links the relationship between economy and health to a polyphonic narrative of relationships and expectations, of access and ‘growth,’ as well as a queer reading of the building. Miriam Stoney manipulates the dials of scales and plays with imbalances in different contexts. Santu Mofokeng’s photograph Aus/Luderitz has a direct connection to Bremen and German colonial history, which have been inscribed into the Namibian landscape as an irrevocable relationship of debt. Natascha Nassir-Shahnian explores the counterparts of these inscriptions of debt in German landscapes in order to initiate an open dialogue. Denise Ferreira da Silva and Arjuna Neuman trace the traces of history in the Chilean Atacama Desert, which – despite attempts to conceal it – is preserved by the dry climate. In her installation Proudhon, the Society of December 10th, and the Club of Bad Debtors, Alice Creischer examines the relationships between intellectual, political, and economic forces through a multi-part puppet show. The artist collective Jochen Schmith connects the privatization of parks with the logics of work and non-work in abstract compositions made of shredded banknotes.
The works on display start off mostly from impersonal, quantifiable values or the advantages of individuals, that rarely involve values and justice, which is simply a consequence of supposedly inescapable principles of debt. Abstracting and remaining untouched by these processes means ignoring experiences related to history, memory, identities, and built and unbuilt environments. On the contrary, integrating these aspects offers possibilities for dealing with our indebted reality.
The symposium DEBT. Unsettling matters of interest and the exhibition You Breathe Differently Under the Weight. Debt and Credit inform each other and resonate with affiliated seminars, as well as local and international scholars and audiences.
Alice Creischer, Moyra Davey, Denise Ferreira da Silva & Arjuna Neuman, Toon Fibbe, Lili Huston-Herterich, Santu Mofokeng, Natascha Nassir-Shahnian, Jochen Schmith, Miriam Stoney
Events
Fri, 06.06.
19:00 Opening
22:00 Performance Council of Scales by Miriam Stoney
Sun, 22.06., 17:00
Natascha Nassir-Shanian,
Lecture Performance
Tue, 24.06., 11:00
Schuld/Fragen, educational program by students of University Bremen / Seminar Sarah Lüdemann
Tue, 01.07., 11:00
Schuld/Fragen
Tue, 08.07., 11:00
Schuld/Fragen
Thu, 17.07., 19:00
A collective reading of Denise Ferreira da Silva – Unbezahlbare Schulden: Szenen des Werts, gegen den Pfeil der Zeit gelesen
Thu, 21.08., 19:00
Guided Tour & Board Games Night About Debt
Sun, 07.09., 15:00
Guided Tour
Cooperation
The project is initiated by the University of Bremen and GAK Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst, and realized in cooperation with Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg and University of the Arts Bremen, Klasse Temporary Spaces.
Funding
Der Senator für Kultur der Freien Hansestadt Bremen
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Manfred und Ursula Fluß-Stiftung
Mondriaan Fund