FACADES OF CRISIS (G/NO/ARG, 2010) video/space installation

November 2010, GALERIE STADTGESTALT, Serge von Arx, Berlin.

The video/space installation FACADES OF CRISIS explores the consistency and social relevance of architectural safety measurements in Buenos Aires. "Lo tuyo es tuyo. -- What is yours, stays yours.", states a billboard behind metal grids. Since the economic collapse, the business of façade protections has been booming in the metropolis. The installation juxtaposes the rigid structure of metal bars with the personal experiences of ten inhabitants of the city. The descriptions of the interviewees from distinctive social backgrounds depict the effects of the crisis: They deal with trust and mistrust, utopia and dream, precariousness and fear as well as with the daily life experience of la inseguridad, "the insecurity", which has become a political and medial buzzword to manipulate the people. The installation creates a communal space for people, who due to increasing segregation are more and more isolated from each other. All interviewees express and embody the fragile interdependency of individual life plans and the conditions of a socio-economic system. "There is no outside of the crisis.", as the philosopher Nancy Fracer states.

Interviewed persons: Teresa Petrana Alaguibe (cleaning lady, has been living in an occupied house for many years), Marta Bodo (lawyer and notary), Walter Christian Citzenmaier (homeless, lives across the street of the government building), Lic. Eduardo Grimoldi (psychologist, specialist for anxiety and crisis), Claudia Rosenberg (former flight attendant, actress since 2001), Nestor Piquero (architect and designer), María Graciela Ponce (kioskera), César Saldaña (locksmith, worked for Peugeot until 2001), José Saphir (constructor, inventor), Florencia Arbós (schoolgirl, born in 2001).

FACADES OF CRISIS is based on research material of the documentary theatre installation (IM)POTENCIA. The performance has been realized in collaboration with Residencias del Sur (Buenos Aires), Sophiensaele (Berlin) and Black Box Teater (Oslo). It has been funded by Hauptstadtkulturfond (Berlin), Fond Fritt Ord (Norwegen), Norsk Kulturråd, Norsk Kulturråd Scenetekst (Norwegen) and Goethe Institute München and Oslo.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• gated community
• security measurements
• Buenos Aires
• Argentinienkrise
• Wirtschaftskrise