Betting in the form of speculation has been a ubiquitous element in the financial crises of recent years. The belief in the calculability of our future continues to dominate politics and society. What potential does the bet harbor today? And what is at stake? The Bet addresses these questions with an exhibition and a performance weekend, jointly realized by KW Institute for Contemporary Art and Haus der Berliner Festspiele, as part of the festival Foreign Affairs.
The exhibition Connect Four: The Bet, opening tomorrow at KW, confronts four artistic positions with one another, which analytically and playfully explore gambling as a mixture of faith and economics in the context of the individual on the one hand, and of society as a whole on the other. Daniel Keller lists absurd futuristic job titles, which may emerge over future technological development, but most probably will not. Boehler & Orendt stage a creative workshop situation with a transcendent learning objective. The audience is able to prove its readiness on the spot, and to provide the personal commitment that is needed to boost further growth. Goldin+Senneby’s installation The Discreet Charm investigates speculation on the financial markets, and Claire Fontaine’s opening night performance activates her installation Get Lost, in which she pinpoints intimacy and its abrupt rejection in the context of capitalist structures.
Connect Four is a new exhibition series at KW, which will bring four artists and their work into conversation with one another, each time on a different subject.
Connect Four: The Bet
KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Auguststrasse 69, 10117 Berlin
Exhibition opening: 6.7.2013, 17–22 h, 19 h Performance by Claire Fontaine
Dates: 7. 7.– 4. 8. 2013
Performance Weekend: 12.–13.7.2013
Photo: Daniel Keller, “Jobs (That Don’t Exist Today)”, manipulated digital image, 2013, courtesy: the artist
