Election Day, Group Exhibition
das weisse haus, Vienna
with Åbäke, Joseph Beuys, Tania Bruguera, Bruce Conner, Lydia Eccles, Joan Jett Blakk, Terike Haapoja & Laura Gustafsson, Janez Janša & Janez Janša & Janez Janša, Vincent Trasov curated by Enar de Dios Rodríguez
September 08 – October 17, 2020
It seems as if democracy has always been in crisis. Today, voting seems performative; a false dilemma in which citizens select the lesser of all evils. Protesters in the streets yell “They do not represent us!” and surveys asking if politicians “can be trusted” yield results which are never surprising.
What should we do when democracy becomes “a mutilated tool devoid of efficacy and credibility”? We might turn to art in hopes of catching a glimpse of radical strategies, whose critical disposition, symbolic gestures, political resistance, illogical logics and embracement of the collective and the everyday could urge us to construct a new set of alternatives within the democratic system. And to continue working towards a more democratic democracy, a fundamental democracy.
The group exhibition Election Day hopes to foster the imagination of what is possible in a world dominated by fixed structures and inflexible forms of political representation. Coinciding with the elections of the city of Vienna in October 2020, the exhibition is composed of archival materials from political parties and candidates that were initiated by artists in moments of political change throughout history.
Election Day will indeed offer alternatives: political options conceived through subversive artistic approaches that are not just involved in forming an object or a surface but in intervening in the electoral system. Blurring reality with fiction, renaming, occupying a symbol, allowing clogs in the system or voicing silenced issues. Opening up possibilities of action.
All images: Exhibition view, group show „Election Day“ at das weisse haus, Vienna, September 08 – October 17, 2020, photo credits: Theresa Wey