Dejan Marković
Arbeiterwille: An Impossible Movement
Exhibition
Dejan Marković, Arbeiterwille: An Impossible Movement, Graz, 2020, photo: Clara Wildberger
Dates
10.9.–31.10.2021
Location
AK-Bibliothek & Infothek / Citypark, EG
Graz
Part of
Parallel Program 2021
Production specifics
In the context of Graz Kulturjahr 2020
Supported by Annenstrasse 53, Arbeiterkammer Steiermark, CITYPARK, Institute for Contemporary Art / TU Graz, Kulturvermittlung Steiermark, VÖGB Steiermark, steirischer herbst ’21, and numerous workers’ organisations in Styria
The social democratic newspaper Arbeiterwille, founded in Graz in 1890, promoted the emancipation of the working class through self-organization, resistance, and education over a period of forty-four years before being banned. Using this historical publication as a starting point, Dejan Marković’s artistic contribution focuses on the current possibilities for collective self-understanding in the midst of neoliberal and global technological and environmental changes.
Most recently, the fight against the pandemic accelerated the processes of flexibilization and automation of digital capitalism, which has not only led to apathy, alienation, and social isolation, but has also changed the conditions of collective bargaining. How can we identify an Arbeiterwille (worker’s will) as the basis for community building today? A discursive installation demonstrates what is hidden behind media representations of high-tech work and poses the question of new possibilities for collectivization and political action.
Retrospective
Retrospective