with performances and installations by Cia Rinne, Lauryn Youden, Lilly Pfalzer, Janne Nora Kummer & Anton Krause and Nguyễn + Transitory
August 31, 2020; 6-10 pm
Alte Münze, courtyard and basement house 3 Molkenmarkt 2, 10179 Berlin
Under the overarching title Ecology of Attention, the annual topic of the 2020 edition of the Montag Modus interdisciplinary series focuses on attention in the age of the digital and on (digital) strategies for resisting the attention economy of late capitalism. This topic had been decided already in 2019 for Montag Modus and it seems almost prophetic after the collective experience of a pandemic that still seems to envelop us all. Last year, FOMO or “fear of missing out” was the driving force behind our Western normative life experience – and it has only become ever more present since then. We aren’t only asking ourselves: “What if last year’s festival was the last one for a long, long time?” but also, “What’s going to happen now, are the golden years gone forever?” and, on a more existential note, “Will I still have a job next year?”
Questions about an ecological, sustainable economy echo ever more loudly as well. In times like these where the next lockdown is looming ahead, we all consume less – and this has, in a globalized world, an effect on the Global South as well. Is the possibility of refusing to consume and of taking part in events (that is to say, the possibility of turning in on ourselves) perhaps an elitist, postcolonial gesture? The artistic contributions to FOMO illuminate these key points: commitment and refusal. They pursue new forms of closeness and care as well as of the fragility of trust.
As part of FOMO, Nguyễn + Transitory present the current state of their “Topography of Vulnerabilities #2”. This ongoing artistic research on mutual dependency, vulnerability, closeness, disorientation and trust is expanded with an analysis of the consequences of the current pandemic.
Lilly Pfalzer investigates the prospects and dangers of anonymity, communal bodies and collective identities in public spaces. They present their performance “Hold a ghost” (in collaboration with Ronald Berger, Marie Carangi, Olivia Hyunsin Kim, Rebecca Korang and Billy Morgan) in the courtyard of Alte Münze, in which the performers plead for embodying new narratives in order to actively shape political representation. In the basement, Pfalzer shows their two-part installation “From ethics to aesthetics”.
Cia Rinne writes minimalist and concrete pieces in several languages. She reads short texts relating to choice, possibilities, and the fear of missing out that will be echoed in a sonore basement installation.
In her work “Dark Water”, a live performance of her own text, Lauryn Youden examines the history(ies) of grief, lamentation and death, which were of central significance to the everyday lives of European societies during the rise of capitalist patriarchy and the time of major epidemics.
Janne Nora Kummer and Anton Krause show their anti-anxiety multimedia installation, “The Implicit Order” (working-in-progress). This immersive VR-experience is connected to an online multiplayer world, in which you virtually can participate under anton.hyperdramatik.net.
FOMO poses questions of intimacy, of true encounters with real meaning in the outside world, of retreat and commitment, of refusal and acceleration. Questions that, in times of a global pandemic and climate change, will keep us occupied for a long while.
Curators: Léna Szirmay-Kalos and Yvonne Zindel
Producer: Ben Mohai
Technical team: Sanja Gergoric & Bátor Tóth
All visitors are asked to wear a mask inside the building and to stick to the 1,5m social distancing rule at all times. Hand sanitizer is provided at the entrance.
The courtyard is accessible without stairs. The basement does not have an elevator and is unfortunately not accessible with a wheelchair.
Detailed program and schedule
