The title of this year’s Monitoring Absolutely Killing It refers, on the one hand, to techniques of self-affirmation prevalent in today’s late capitalism and thus, in a figurative sense, to the higher-faster-further principle and belief in progress that underlie them. On the other hand, it alludes to the frightening scientific assessment that we are currently experiencing the sixth great mass extinction – the greatest loss of life on Earth since the time of the dinosaurs – and that humans are responsible.  

We are consuming beyond the planet’s limits, exploiting natural resources as well as human labor at an unrestrained rate. In the face of environmental destruction and species extinction, discriminatory devaluations and exploitations, the 20 artists call in their works – sometimes playfully ironic, sometimes urgently evocative – to listen, to slow down, to organize and to become active.

In the Südflügel, positions are grouped that appeal to humankind, but also those that emphasize the resilience of nature in a hopeful way. Others show how possibilities for the common existence of all species can nevertheless be imagined, as well as sustainable growth models, new habits and ways of living.

Over the course of the exhibition, which spans four additional rooms within the KulturBahnhof, the artists devote video works and media installations to the consequences of our consumption, throwaway relationships, and exploitative labor conditions. At the same time, they speculate on what happens when we evade these mechanisms, slow them down or go on strike.

The themes of witnessing and providing evidence in the face of violence, environmental destruction, and displacement are also encountered by visitors in the temporary spaces of the Kasseler Kunstverein at Freiheit 13.

The artists of the exhibition refer to practices of remembering and reflecting, to the importance of slowness and the recognition of the interdependence of all living beings, in order to counter the uncompromising higher-faster-further principle and the underlying world views.

Monitoring takes place in cooperation with the Kasseler Kunstverein and Stellwerk.
All works are nominated for the Golden Cube, endowed with 3,500 euros and donated by the Kassel-based software company Micromata GmbH.

// MONITORING: Absolutely Killing It // At a glance //
 
November 16. – 20, 2022
Opening November 16 at 8:00 p.m. KulturBahnhof Kassel | Südflügel
 
OPENING HOURS
Wednesday Nov.16, 8:00 p.m – 11 p.m.
Thursday until Saturday, Nov. 17–19, 3:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Sunday Nov 21, 12:00 noon – 8:00 p.m.
 
KASSELER KUNSTVEREIN | Die Freiheit 13
Scanning the Horizon: An Immersive Archive / Benjamin Busch // If these walls could talk, they would cough and eat a snack at Nordsee. / Stefanie Schwarzwimmer / 10′ // Acts of Improbable Genius / Melanie-Jame Wolf / 18′

KULTURBAHNHOF KASSEL | Glas box
5.752.414.468 / Gabriela Löffel / 114′

KULTURBAHNHOF KASSEL | Project room in the concourse, opposite track 7
Plus Ultra / Sebastian Weise / 26′

KULTURBAHNHOF KASSEL | Kubatur
Platform / Johannes Büttner, Steffen Köhn / 15′

KULTURBAHNHOF KASSEL | Stellwerk
小埃 💞 Iris / I-Chieh Tsai / 15′

KULTURBAHNHOF KASSEL | Südflügel
Nature See You / Erik Bünger / 19′ // Tales / John Hussain Flindt / 21′ // Miss Ginkgo (Chapter1) / Tang Han / 5′ // Such as – You, Kind of / Helene Kummer / 12’// Life Eternal / Salvador Miranda / 23′ // Human Reality / Ziming Peng // I am absolutely killing it / Lea Roth / 12′ // Yummy Body Truck / Noam Youngrak Son / 7′ // Chronicle of an Extinction Foretold / Frank Theys / 20′ // We The Nature / Borjana Ventzislavova / 28′ // The End Of Something / Clemens Wilhelm / 16’// OCTAVIA’S VISIONS / Zara Zandieh / 18′

Guided tours for schools (junges dokfest)

Registration by November 16 at the latest to jungesdokfest@kasselerdokfest.de

Admission to the exhibition venues and participation in the guided tours are free of charge.

The exhibition takes place in compliance with the applicable hygiene measures.
 
Program catalog available at the end of October 2022!