Book launch
As part of the exhibition
Demokratie heute – Probleme der Repräsentation

5 May 2021
Live-Stream
In German

What does a catalogue do? What can it afford to do? For whom and against whom? The artist Claus Föttinger, Florian Malzacher (freelance curator, dramaturge, and author), and the curator Raimar Stange will discuss these and other questions on the occasion of the presentation of the exhibition catalogue for Demokratie heute – Probleme der Repräsentation.

This publication in newspaper format was edited by Raimar Stange and Florian Malzacher. It is available in the exhibition and online as a PDF. The presentation of the catalogue will be livestreamed.

Around the world, many existing democracies are in a crisis: freedoms and options for political participation are being restricted or their use is declining. The exhibition Demokratie heute – Probleme der Repräsentation (Democracy Today – Problems of Representation) curated by Raimar Stange takes the vulnerability of the basic democratic order as a starting point and illuminates problem areas such as burgeoning right-wing populism around the world, the mediatisation of politics, and new forms of political participation.

The work of artist Claus Föttinger (* 1960 in Nuremberg, lives in Düsseldorf and Seddülbahir / Turkey) has been shown around the world in solo exhibitions at institutions including Gallipoli, Seddülbahir (2005), and the Museum Ludwig in Cologne (2001) as well as in numerous group exhibitions at venues including ZWINGER Galerie in Berlin (2019), the Belvedere in Vienna (2017), Campo Bahia in St. André, Brazil (2014), the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg (2010), Haus Gallus in Frankfurt / Main (2004), the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin (2004), and the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen in Stuttgart (2000). In Demokratie heute – Probleme der Repräsentation, Föttinger is presenting his latest installation veldt & ocean reloaded (2018/2021).

Florian Malzacher (* 1970 in Bonn, lives and works in Berlin) is an independent curator, dramaturge and author. From 2012 to 2017 he was the artistic director of the Impulse Theatre Festival in Cologne, Düsseldorf and Mühlheim / Ruhr, and before that he was head dramaturge and curator of the steirischer herbst festival in Graz for seven years (2006 to 2012). His publications include Not Just a Mirror. Looking for the Political Theatre of Today (ed., 2015) and Empty Stages, Crowded Flats. Performativity as Curatorial Strategy (ed. with Joanna Warsza, 2017). His book Gesellschaftsspiele. Politisches Theater heute was published in 2020.

Raimar Stange (* 1960 in Hanover, lives and works in Berlin) is an independent curator and art publicist who writes for various art magazines including Flash Art, Milan; Kunst-Bulletin, Zurich; Springerin, Vienna; Camera Austria, Graz, and taz – die tageszeitung, Berlin. His most recent publications include 2050 – Nature Morte: Kunst zum Klimawandel (Berlin 2020) and Global National – Kunst zum Rechtspopulismus (Cologne 2019). Stange has curated numerous exhibitions, including at L 40 | Kunstverein am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin (2020); Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin (2019); and at Kunst Haus Wien (2015; 2016).