[spectre] [exhibition] fast umsonst at NGBK Berlin

[Valie Djordjevic]

fast um$onst (nearly for free)
Against the overall economization of being

Opening: 12 March 2004, 7 pm
13 March ­ 18 April 2004
open daily 12 am - 6.30 pm

Press opening
Friday, 12 March 2004, 11 am

The Neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst and the work group fast um$onst
invite you to the exhibition fast um$onst in the gallery of the NGBK,
Oranienstraße 25 in 10999 Berlin-Kreuzberg.

fast um$onst combines 32 critical and ironical positions by artists who
reflect on the current social and economical situation.

The red pencil rules in Berlin as in the rest of Germany. Everybody talks
about empty government funds and the necessity of being self-reliant.
Deregulation, rationalization, suspension of staff, unemployment, isolation
and lack of solidarity are the markers of a state which pretends to be
a corporate organization. The image of the artist as the
epitome of the creative, non-alienated worker becomes the state-licenced
and state-supported ideal and realizes itself in the so-called ICH-AG (ME
incorporated)

fast um$onst is an art exhibition for the economic inventory of some
elements of globalized neo-liberalism and about strategies of muddling
through (i.e. self-organized imaginative action) after the New Economy. We
chose artists who talk about the service sector, but decline to accept its
logic and look for an escape out of the perpetual mill of “working for not
enough money” ­ even if it is just imaginary.

fast um$onst supports critical thought and improvisation in the fight
against the cutbacks in the quality of everyday life. fast um$onst answers
the coercion to be self-reliant with the delight of doing things yourself.

Our main concerns include the democratization of and the participation in
artistic processes. This claim is realized by open workshops like the
ATELIER POPULAIRE, silk screen printing with Gertrud Fischbacher (March 16 +
17) or the money song evening with DJ-EVERYBODY and VJ-L'ANGELO DORO on
April 2nd,
when everybody who brings his or her records with money-songs can be a DJ.

On the road ­ THE HITCHHIKING BOOKS (March 26), an evening with Kaaren
Beckhof, is devoted to the forgotten cultural skill of hitchhiking.
Everybody can chart their own travel routes on a map in the gallery.

The INSTITUTE FOR PRIMARY ENERGY asks for contributions for its next
congress ‘Financing Strategies on the Fringes of Possibility’, that will
take place 2005. (March 21 and April 2)

The Congress Coaching 2004 organized by CAPITAL TRAINING provides an
opportunity to participate in an advanced training for media artists and
get help for professional re-orientation and professionalization.

In January the open contest GOLDREGEN ­ GELDSEGEN asked the general public
to participate in art. Three winners won a painting made according to their
own submission by Astrid Küver, a well known Berlin artist. Their wishes
and aspirations of wealth and luxury are materialized through the idealized
value of an art work.

The SELBSTBEDIENUNGSZENTRALE (self-service agency) by Claudia Burbaum,
Folke Köbberling and Martin Kaltwasser (opening hours Friday to Sunday
3-6:30 pm) puts a model of a free economy into practice, which opens up the
possibility to exchange things without the constraint of getting something
back or paying for it. It responds pragmatically to the changing economic
conditions and calls on the interaction of artists and audience.

List of artists:
"Die Trampelbücher" Kaaren Beckhof; multi-media installation & presentation
"Re:represent" Blank & Jeron; installation
"Capital Training Congress Coaching 2004" organized by Ellen Nonnenmacher
with Helene von Oldenburg, Claudia Reiche, Valie Djordjevic, Kerstin
Weiberg, Verena Kuni; slide show & congress
"Eine neue Herausforderung bundesweit" (A new challenge nationwide)
Angélica Chio, Rüdiger Stern; video
"L'angelo d'oro", Doro Etzler; video_foto_visuals/videoscratching
"Atelier populaire" with Gertrud Fischbacher; serigraphy workshop
"Scheinwelten - Tütengeld" (Illusionary worlds ­ bag money) Tina-Marie
Friedrich; paintings
"Untitled" Sofia Hultén; video
"Alle Waren Reduziert" (All goods reduced/Everybody was reduced) Christine
Kriegerowski; slide show
"Goldregen - Geldsegen" Astrid Küver; commissioned paintings
"Money Transfer - où sans argent tu ne manges pas" Barbara Loreck and
guests; performance
"Institur für Primärenergie" Uli Ertl, Mirjam Junker, Barbara Loreck,
Conrad Noack, Rut Waldeyer; info table
"The best things in life are free" Anton Rabe, Inger Schwarz; performance
"Selbstbedienungszentrale" Claudia Burbaum, Martin Kaltwasser, Folke
Köbberling; interactive installation or - more simply: shop
"busking DX 386" Alexej Shulgin; installation
"Money-multiplier" Tiger Stangl; installation
"DJ-Everybody" Betty Stürmer; party & line-up lists
"Give me more" Claudia Tribin; installation

An accompanying catalogue with texts by Capital Training, Valie Djordjevic,
Haytham el Wardany, Ulrich Heinke, Kolja Kohlhoff, Christine Kriegerowski,
Barbara Loreck,
Patricia Rodriguez Rosas, Selbstbedienungszentrale, Christoph Tempel and
Holger Trop
will be presented on Friday, 2 April 2004 at 7 pm in the exhibition.

fast um$onst ­ work group at NGBK:
Haytham el Wardany, Tina-Marie Friedrich, Christine Kriegerowski, Christoph
Tempel, Claudia Tribin

PROGRAM:
exhibition fast um$onst
13 March - 18 April 2004, NGBK Berlin
www.mitzeitung.de

Press opening:
Friday, 12 March 2004, 11 am

Opening
Friday, 12 March 2004, 7 pm

Atelier populaire
Tuesday/Wednesday 16/17 March 2004
12 am - 6:30 pm
Serigraphy workshop with Gertrud Fischbacher

Capital Training Congress
Sunday, 21 March, 12-6.30 pm
info table by Primärenergie

On the road
Friday, 26 March, 7 pm
Die Trampelbücher 1981-89 (the hitchhiking books),
Snacking and reading on a forgotten cultural skill

catalogue presentation
Friday, 2 April 2004, 7 pm
Can't buy me love
-money song evening with DJ EVERYBODY - Betty Stürmer
Bring your money song records!
Everybody sings his own money blues!
-VJ l'angelo d'oro - Doro Etzler
-Information table by Primärenergie

GOLDREGEN ­ GELDSEGEN
closing event, Sunday, 18 April 2004, 6:30 pm
Award ceremony for the winners of the contest
- money transfer - Barbara Loreck and guests
- the best things in life are free
Anton Rabe und Inger Schwarz

Selbstbedienungszentrale
The office of the self-service agency is open during the exhibition
from Friday to Sunday, 3-6:30 pm.