Thursday 29 September 2022

4daysinthefuture


4 days in Kassel - Documenta15 was transforming – you get to have access to some intriguing spaces, WH2, the underground space that is a club was inspiring. The work will initially have you mainly angry with a general feeling of helplessness but after days of reading and looking and listening a way forward starts to evolve with what you will personally do to try and cope after endless examples of Capitalism’s war on the earth. 
Artists as documentors, activists, and advocates seek to support change but it feels like a pebble in a huge sea. I listened to so many thoughtful voices, but Berger had put into words my rambled thoughts, had me thinking about the concept of slow violence. We are in it or even already there. The work of Amol K Patil was haunting and moving, the recognition but otherness was fracturing to the mind. The book inspired by Jimmie Durrant -The Struggle Starts with the Struggle of the Tongue: An Affective Dictionary of Tatar by Joen Vedel and Yana Mikhalina was so good I had to buy it. The FAFSWAG collective had a moving set of videos with great sound in the Stadtmuseum. The collection of promotional documentaries curated by Subversive films were truly enlightening. The work that focused on clay and its possibilities had me thinking about workshop ideas. All this alongside some great strategies for working with people and attempting to change the world.  Meanwhile there was great beer, glorious cake, and spicy sausages! Onto screens - Outer range – wild sci fi western with warped visual narratives. I used to be famous – sweet working-out-who-you-are story. Do Revenge – high-school-teen-revenge with a twist, maybe. Meet Cute – tangled time travel trouble