2023 Klassenfragen / Class Issues, Berlinische Galerie
Klassenfragen
Kunst und ihre Produktionsbedingungen
Berlinische Galerie
25 Nov 2022 – 09 Jan 2023
http://klassenfragen.de/
A selection of works from
Autophag, Brain Drain,
Brain Gain, Cannibal,
Class Issues
Art Production In and Out of Precarity
Extreme class differences collide within the field of art. The promise of an art world career is often accompanied by lived realities and conditions of production entrenched in precarity; behind the glamourous image of the artist lurk shrouded poverty and relations of dependence. Social background strongly influences access and careers, and art production is largely dependent on economic, social, and cultural capital. The exhibition sheds light on structural disadvantages and negotiates questions that erupt within the field of art due to the effects of classism.
How can one make art when the means of production are limited or non-existent, when there is no space available and the idea of being able to afford a studio is presumptuous or simply absurd? What of those who have conceived of a work that can never be realized due to scarce resources? The exhibition presents works that negotiate and document the precarious working and living conditions within the art field, e.g., productions that remain sketches due to a lack of resources, or scenarios where artists resort to “poor” materials or standardized formats.
In the long-term project “Autophag, Brain Drain, Brain Gain, Cannibal,” images from a fluctuating archive are printed using standard printers and ink cartridges in various states of exhaustion. The prints result from machine failures triggered after extended periods of use – from incessantly printing portfolios to reams of bureaucratic paperwork. Boatwright refers to his project as a “hibernatory practice” – a way to generate and nourish artistic work while otherwise busy with freelance jobs. It visualizes a process in which deficient mechanisms (in this case, machines intended to faithfully reproduce images) make adequate representation impossible.
In suggestive constellations of specific motifs, the work connects the impenetrability of certain hegemonic images – modernist monochrome painting; Confederate monuments based on neoclassical sculpture; media images of police violence in the United States – with depictions of piercing optical or celestial phenomena.
To allow for further contextualization and conversation around the project Autophag, Brain Drain, Brain Gain, Cannibal, beyond its inclusion as part of the Klassenfragen exhibition, an alternate presentation of the work can be visited in Boatwright’s Berlin studio on selected dates and by appointment.
To allow for further contextualization and conversation around the project Autophag, Brain Drain, Brain Gain, Cannibal, beyond its inclusion as part of the Klassenfragen exhibition, an alternate presentation of the work can be visited in Boatwright’s Berlin studio on selected dates and by appointment.
More information available at autophag.io
To set up an appointment, please email autophagio@gmail.com