qujOchÖ
Das große Manöver

Dubious deals, money laundering, greedy bankers – the current crisis is focusing the public eye on the shady tactics of a few tricksters on the international financial markets. While some react with accusations and others with appeasements, the Linz-based art collective qujOchÖ examines the methods of those who exploit financial-capitalist interactions for their own purposes and cheat the system in an ingenious and inscrutable manner.

The analysis focuses on real individuals and their practices, representing them in a complex installation: how could so many people fall for the hazardous promises of Charles Ponzi? Why was Ivan ”The Terrible” Boesky applauded for his ”greed is all right” speech? How did Werner Rydl come to burn 167 million Austrian Schillings in Brazil? On a mad tour, qujOchÖ present the stories and tactics of the tricksters of financial capitalism.

Beyond moral finger-wagging and simply pillorying tricksters, qujOchÖ have come up with a demonstrative gesture that creates a field of tension with tricky financial speculations. Following in-depth discussion, the art collective has decided to multiply the production budget provided by steirischer herbst with as little speculation as possible. But what would be more obvious than to take a typically Austrian approach to this? As a reminiscence of the supposedly good old times, qujOchÖ therefore deposited the production budget of €16,576.03 in a savings account. A fixed interest rate of 4.185 % for 100 years was negotiated with Steiermärkische Sparkasse. The final capital including interest therefore amounts to exactly €1,000,000.30. The savings book was transferred to steirischer herbst by deed of gift on condition that the money is not accessed before the 100 years have expired. As an additional guarantee, the savings book is deposited with a notary public for this period.

Künstlerin / Künstler / Gruppe: qujOchÖ