GOODBYE CRUEL WORLD, IT’S OVER
Exhibition Catalogue, edited by Janine Blöß and Hörner/Antlfinger, Verlag der Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln. December 2020, German. 28 x 21 cm, 116 Pages, colour ill., softcover. ISBN 978-3-942154-57-4 €16.00 Order at: verlag@khm.de
Bacteria, fungi, plants, animals, humans and machines share a common world. What bonds and conflicts characterise their relationships? How can we learn to empathise with non-human living beings? According to which needs, values and logics of action are their living worlds shaped? And how will future generations view our interaction with other species?
These and other questions build the foundation for the exhibition Goodbye Cruel World, It's Over, at the WELTKUNSTZIMMER Düsseldorf from 28 November 2019 to 2 February 2020, and the accompanying publication. The exhibition and publication bring works by students and teachers of Transmedial Space (Transmedialer Raum) at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM) into dialogue with works by international artists from Australia, Sweden, Slovenia and the USA, who have long been researching in the field of Human-Animal-Studies and beyond. In an open process, an intensive ongoing exploration of what Donna Haraway calls "learning to stay with the trouble of living and dying together" emerged. Stories are told of empathic relationships, unconditional trust and care, as well as of powerful oppression, indifferent ignorance and destructive exploitation. In the midst of ecological crises, the artists question anthropocentric perspectives and thus provide alternative views on environment.
With a text by Jessica Ulrich and contributions by the artists Anna Bandke/Anne Arndt, Sophia Bauer, Manuel Boden, Pascal Marcel Dreier, Giorgi Gedevanidze, Biniam Graffé, Nieves de La Fuente Gutierréz, Verena Friedrich, Thomas Hawranke, Jeeso Hong, Hörner/Antlfinger, Jiha Jeon, Christelle Jornod, Paul Kolling/Paul Seidler/Max Hampshire, Danila Lipatov, EvaMarie Lindahl, Antje Majewski, Susan Helen Miller, Katharina Mönkemöller, Norie Neumark/Maria Miranda, Hanna Noh, Stephanie Rothenberg, Hye Young Sin, Sissy Schneider, Saša Spačal/Anil Podgornik/Mirjan Švagelj, Qimeng Sun, Myrto Vratsanou, Hermann Weber, Daniel Wolter; Layout: Olivier Arcioli/ateliergruen.de
images © Carsten Heisterkamp and the artists