[aha] MACHT GESCHENKE: DAS KAPITAL by Christin Lahr at Aksioma Project Space

[Aksioma]

Aksioma -- Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana
presents:

*Christin Lahr
**/MACHT GESCHENKE*: DAS KAPITAL/* /- A Critique of Political Economy/
Solo exhibition
http://www.aksioma.org/das.kapital

*Aksioma | Project Space*
Komenskega 18, Ljubljana
19 September - 5 October 2012

*Artist's presentation and exhibition opening:* Wednesday, 19 September 
2012 at 7 pm

*Performance:/MACHT GESCHENKE: THE MAKING OF CAPITAL:/*
Wednesday, 19 September 2012 from 8 pm - 10 pm
Thursday, 20 and Friday, 21 September 2012 from 12 pm - 6 pm

*Images available for free download:
www.aksioma.org/press/daskapital.zip 
<http://www.aksioma.org/press/daskapital.zip>*

----------
Donation to the Federal Republic of Germany; daily transfer of Capital 
to the Federal Ministry of Finance, 2009 - ca. 2052

Since May 31, 2009 Christin Lahr has been transferring one cent a day to 
the German Federal Ministry of Finance, thus helping to counter the 
growing mountain of debt in homeopathic doses. In the "reason for 
payment" field, she always writes 108 characters from /Capital/ by Marx. 
Bit by bit, the entire text of the book will be transferred into the 
state's central account via online banking. The transmission of the 
roughly 15,709 cents and 1,696,500 characters will take about 43 years. 
The increase in value of the capital investment is not even included, 
nor are the required labor and lifetime or the added value through 
cultural and symbolic capital calculated into this. Due to the 
exponential effects of interest and compound interest, her donation will 
be able to pay off the national debt of 31 May 2009, 1,746,599,197,210 
Euro, within 300 years.

CAPITAL, which inscribes itself irrevocably into accounts and archives, 
is a donation to the entire people, entered into the state budget, 
administered by the currently elected representatives, safely stored at 
the Bundesbank. Each of the money transfers is documented by a 
screenshot, printed out once, signed, and given away to individual 
citizens. In "over-subscriptions" on translucent paper, she crosses out 
character by character and thus produces an unreadable notation of 
"Capital", consisting of counting marks and numerals.

The work counteracts the ruling political economy and senseless, 
degrading bureaucratism with the gesture of giving, and poses the 
question of meaning. The system sees itself in a mirror. Once a day, the 
micro-donations upset the state's balance sheet. They triggers a 
sustained debate on values that produces continuous reflections and echoes.


For three days during the exhibition period (19 - 21 Sept 2012) the 
artist will be taking over the chair of Zoran Jankovic' - the mayor of 
Ljubljana, working at a capital desk at Aksioma - Institute for 
Contemporary Art, exposing bureaucratic structures, delivering an 
illustrative insight into the cultivation of capital, communicating with 
the public and performing: *MACHT GESCHENKE: THE MAKING OF CAPITAL*

*The project received *the PRIXARS 2011, AWARD OF DISTINCTION (HYBRID 
ART), as well as TRANSMEDIALE AWARD 2011, DISTINCTION, in recognition of 
the outstanding critical and visionary value of arts.

/*The German title MACHT GESCHENKE is a play on words implying "CREATE 
GIFTS", or "GIFTS OF POWER" as well as "POWERFUL GIFTS"/


*Christin Lahr* (1965, Munich) lives and works as an artist, curator and 
professor for Media Art in Berlin and Leipzig. She has received several 
scholarships and awards and exhibited in Germany and abroad. Since 1990 
she has been teaching at different universities as well as curating 
shows for instance at the RealismusStudio of NGBK Berlin. Since 2001 
Lahr is a Professor for Media Art at the Academy of Visual Arts, Leipzig.

*More information at:* http://www.macht-geschenke.de

*
**Production:* Aksioma -- Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana, 2012
www.aksioma.org <http://www.aksioma.org>

Artistic Director: Janez Jans(a
Executive Producer: Marcela Okretic(
Assistant Production: Sonja Grdina
Public Relations: Mojca Zupanic(
Technician: Valter Udovic(ic'


/*The programme of Aksioma Institute is supported by the Ministry of 
Education, Science, Culture and Sport of the Republic of Slovenia and 
the Municipality of Ljubljana.*
Sponsor: Datacenter d.o.o./

*
Contact:*
Mojca Zupanic(, mojca.zupanic1 at gmail.com <mailto:mojca.zupanic1 at gmail.com>
Marcela Okretic(, aksioma4 at siol.net <mailto:aksioma4 at siol.net>
*Aksioma | Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana*
Neubergerjeva 25, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
www.aksioma.org <http://www.aksioma.org>


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