Tender Points

Our social, economic and political system treats the population as a source of renewable energy, like the energy of the sun or of wind. “Nudging” has replaced authoritative commands, with subtle pushes in the direction of desired behavioral changes manipulating seemingly free choices. “Guidelines” replace sets of regulations, whose function stays the same in a disguised form. Private and public institutions and companies establish norms that encroach on essential biological life processes of the individual. This power system is a reversal of the monarchic “to make death and let live” into “to make life and let die”; as observed by Foucault more than 40 years before the outbreak of the Corona pandemic. A prime example from the most recent past: prenatal diagnostics used to discard fetuses with disabilities (“have healthy babies!”). These represent negotiations for the right to life and death, which become internalized and supported by the population itself. We are - in the words of John Reed Fitness Club - Designed to Perform.

The exhibition focuses associatively on phenomena of this inscription of power in human bodies. The artists explore diverse fields of knowledge - ranging from medicine and pathology to the gestures of protest, the design of inhospitable public spaces as well as the use and abuse of police power.  

Albert García-Alzórriz video piece “The Blue Flower in the Land of Technology” investigates the latest technology for medical imagery. His focus is on the points of fusion between real bodies and their artificial representations during the work of young doctors at the Klinikum Stuttgart.

Timo Herbst investigates gestures of resistance in collaboration with Marcus Nebe. In his interdisciplinary practice which is represented in the exhibition by a 10 meter long drawing, animations and 3D prints, he traces the expressions of dissent and desire for democracy in  contemporary German-speaking countries back to the 15th century.

Julia Lübbecke subverts normative body politics in her video lecture performance “Slight Discomfort 2”. She poses the question for the “bodies to come” by the philosopher Peggy Phelan and the spaces in which they could unfold. Her interest lies in the relationship of body, institution and affect.

Viktor Petrov’s Piece „Gazing at the Glazing“ consists of 54 riot shields from the Chinese police force. Viktor Petrov reflects upon the idea of transparency which is closely connected to the architectural representation of democratic institutions.

Jakub Šimčik’s video works treat medical imaging techniques as snapshots of a lost lived reality. For this he has focussed on wax moulage, a technique for the depiction of sick body parts, which was widely in use between 1870 - 1950.

Margarita Wenzel composed data based music derived from a prefabricated building in Halle (Saale) which has by now been demolished. The history of this building is tightly connected to the development of satellite cities in East Germany and the unfulfilled structural break of the time of reunification.

The exhibition offers a lot of space to reflect on the neuralgic points of our society. "Tender Points", the title of the exhibition, refers to areas in the body that produce sharp pain when pressed, a method used to diagnose pain disorders.