Hoping for Misunderstandings I. mit Lukas Maria Kaufmann
In the old porter's lodge in the main building of the University for applied Arts Vienna, we sit and listen to selected pop songs at extreme volume that call for work, for example, "Work Hard, Play Hard" by Wiz Khalifa. Behind us, a banner reads "Hoping for Misunderstandings."
If someone wants to approach us, they receive a theoretical text on the concept of work in contemporary art written by Kira Kaufmann and a shot of eggnog.
Visitors are also given an excerpt from a lexicon on the terms love, market, or work.
At this moment, the excessively loud call to work as a pop song emanates from the porter's lodge.
Kira Kaufmann writes:
How should the neoliberalized call to work be understood?
Work Love Market (Marxism)
A Crypto-B.G. Paraphrase
At the beginning stands the postulate of the end of history. If, according to Hegel, the absolute spirit ultimately culminates in the development of a functioning constitutional state that allows people freedom within the framework of legislation, then with Marx, this final triumph of reason is not achieved as long as the irrational dimension of the fatal moments of the market is not curbed. Whether through the rule of the proletariat or through state measures regulating the market, that is, social welfare. The question is asked about the form of a society, a generation that, socialized in the neoliberal model of market economy, lives, produces. Prosperity in some places, opportunities for advancement. But also barriers. An education system that systematically reproduces social inequality instead of balancing it out. Social partnership provides security in some places. Relative stability and peace. Consumption shapes life; it is the engine of the economy, which permeates everything. Production takes place against the backdrop of strong, omnipresent competition. Comparison comes at the beginning, not just at the end. In addition, there is efficiency- and performance-oriented existence, goal orientation, availability. Work often happens unpaid. Presence: the media self as self-design. Not reserved for the artist, but necessary. Every aspect of life is economized; supply and demand determine the price. Everything is weighed, striving for the optimum in all respects. Love: Keeping free from musts and have-to's, cost-benefit calculations? Again, the indispensable need for self-presentation, what role does self-awareness, reason play? The artist wants to be loved. The handling of the irrational is to be answered individually. How does one's own work relate to conditions beyond one's control that determine everything? The claim to rights. Possibility for change. Unchangeable structures? All-pervading, fundamental mistrust. Against this background, it is important to produce, to understand. Self-experimentation.
