Led by artist-curator Pippa Koszerek, the 2018 MKH Biennale in Halberstadt is themed around the Klimawechsel [changing climate], bringing together artists who look at changing systems – social, financial and architectural – and artists whose work seeks to directly create and disrupt change through invention with alternative mechanisms. For its third edition, the Monat Kunst Halberstadt Biennale will look through the experiments of artists at the changing current social, political, cultural, environmental and historical climate to examine how artists comprehend, influence and make change in the world.
Eca Eps’ intervention at the MKH Biennale will feature live performance, video and installation comprising four works:
Water Work: A durational performance film staged at the National Museum Lagos, Nigeria which utilised 50,000 litres of water reflecting on access to water as a marker for survival. In the vein of other performances, the national youth service uniform is adopted to simultaneously look at the role of the artist as citizen and art as a tool for civic participation.
Unbuilding: This live installation uses frozen saltwater with traces of red earth evoking passage through the Sahara and the Mediterranean to create a collapsing wall recognising the shifting tendency towards closed societies sparked by the influx of migration and the subsequent responses.
Pure Water: Drinking water packaged as emergency water supply on rescue crafts (also sold commercially in Nigeria as ‘pure water’ for consumption on the go) serves a dual function as it becomes weaponised as water bombs when in motion during the interconnected performance of ‘From Chibok to Calais’ in the exhibition.
From Chibok to Calais: This performance previously staged at ORT Gallery combines a vocal map reading exercise intercut by spontaneous audience participation all of which is consumed by the presence of an agitated watch dog. Using space, sound, speech and text, this performance creates an experience that provides a glimpse into the uncertainty, chaos and distress brought on by displacement.
Exhibiting artists at MKH Biennale include Alexander Kluge, Aram Bartholl, Aerocene Foundation (Museo Aero Solar), Georgia Brown, Jasmina Cibic, Rebecca Chesney, Don’t Follow The Wind, Transformation Design, Sarah Lehn, Alistair Mcclymont, Sogol Mabadi, Doireann Ni Ghrioghair, and Sven Wiesner.
Klimawechsel / Climates of Change will open on 31st August and run until 29th September 2018.
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