fake or feint

fake or feint – six scenarios on tactics of marking

[A fake or a feint is moving your body when dribbling the soccer ball
in such a way that you deceive the defender into thinking you are going
to dribble one way but in actuality you dribble the other. In other words,
you are attempting to unbalance the defender so that they cannot recover
fast enough to catch you as you are dribbling by them.] ¹

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fake or feint is the title of a seven-month exhibition project of contemporary art dealing with the topic of marking. The project takes place at two salesrooms in the shopping mall 'Berlin Carré' at Berlin’s Alexanderplatz. These will host five consecutive exhibition scenarios that feature contributions by internationally renowned artists. An additional scenario is conceived as a film program, taking place at Kino Arsenal at Potsdamer Platz. The exhibitions are accompanied by a series of seminars, lectures, performances and artist talks. fake or feint is realised in co-operation with Kulturforum Berlin Alexanderplatz e.V. (KFBA) and is funded by Hauptstadtkulturfonds. The project is completed by a publication released in Summer 2009.

Series of lectures and performances with contributions by:
Martin Beck / Johannes Schülein, Elena Esposito, Jan Kedves, Hanne Loreck, Annette Maechtel, Performerstammtisch, Markus Rautzenberg, Tim Stüttgen, Michael Zinganel

Team:
Joerg Franzbecker with Martin Beck (curators), Adrian Bremenkamp (catalogue and archive), Bärbel Hartje (consultant), Katrin Mayer (exhibition design), Flo Gaertner (graphic design), Elena Zanichelli (film program) and Bettina Wenzel (curatorial assistant).

Exhibition period:
January 10th to July 25th, 2009

Exhibition venues:
Berlin Carré shopping mall at Alexanderplatz, Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 13, Berlin
Film program: Kino Arsenal at Potsdamer Platz (March 9th, 16th and 23rd, 2009)

Topic

Marking is a physical act of altering a surface, as for example to spray or write a graffiti onto a wall. Thereby differences can be created or made visible. fake or feint takes the concept of marking as a starting point to pose the question of the politics of the surface and the operational modes of aesthetic tactics. Beyond the notion of a mere indication of locations and identities, the aim is to consider marking as an act embedded in a setting of flexible and interwoven elements.

Public spaces, body surfaces and media images are not only areas where social norms and boundaries become manifest. They also provide opportunities for action by marginalised groups. As for example in his essay 'Kool Killer or The Insurrection of Signs' Jean Baudrillard interprets the sudden emergence of graffiti in 70s New York as a perpetuation of the street riots on the level of signs. For debates on body and gender, practices like drag and cross-dressing have become of significant interest. As a play with gender categories they are credited with a potential for subversion. The mask of the Mexican Zapatistas and their spokesman Subcommandante Marcos again is a prominent example how medial regimes of identification can be strategically used and at the same time be undermined. Their camouflage has become a political icon as well as the vehicle of a supra-personal identity.

The common feature of these tactics can be found in the way they occupy surfaces. They make use of effects of visibility and the irritation of perceptions to produce scopes of action. Yet they are characterised by an indefiniteness that allows their appropriation by different protagonists. In manifold ways they have drawn the attention of fields like fashion, art, club culture and film. Depending on the context their meaning and impact can radically change. The associated questions and ambivalences are the motive for fake or feint to negotiate them in a variety of forms, to stage and reinterpret them in the mirror of contemporary art production and to pose the question of their conditions, constraints and potentials in the present.

Implementation

fake or feint is composed of six consecutive scenarios. These are designed in a way to engage works of art in an open communication process in terms of formal properties and contents. They comprise works of internationally renowned artists, mostly produced specifically for the project. In most different ways they address forms of marking on fields such as public space, gender politics, fashion, the staging of the body, club culture and entertainment. The artistic means range from installation, video, photography to site-specific intervention.

A second section within the exhibition room includes functions of a process-related archive and of a lecture room. The design is developed by artist Katrin Mayer whose work deals with concepts of display and space. She will design a set of mutable forms that adjusts to the respective exhibition situation. This will contain a reference library of relevant literature, films and illustrative material as well as other media like wall newspapers.

Scenario 1 (January 10th to February 7th, 2009)
Claude Cahun
Eran Schaerf

Scenario 2 (February 21st to March 21st, 2009)
Kaucyila Brooke
Sofie Thorsen / Katharina Lampert

Scenario 3 (March 9th, 16th and 23rd, 2009)
A film program curated by Elena Zanichelli and Joerg Franzbecker, taking place at Kino Arsenal at Potsdamer Platz.

Scenario 4 (April 4th to May 3rd, 2009)
Amy Granat
Annja Krautgasser
Katrin Mayer

Scenario 5 (May 16th to June 13th, 2009)
Daniela Comani
Keren Cytter
Heiko Karn

Scenario 6 (June 27th to July 25th, 2009)
e-Xplo
Tom Holert
Daniel Knorr
Eske Schlüters/Axel Gaertner

Contact:
Joerg Franzbecker
Cell+49/0/171 7484366
office (at) fakeorfeint (dot) org

¹ Quelle: Soccer Success Today – How to play soccer better;
http://soccersuccesstoday.blogspot.com/2007/04/dribbling-what-is-fake-feint-fake-or.html

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