MEGAYAPROJECT

Gelbgeist(2021)- Hinterconti, Hamburg (D)

GHOSTS FROM THE PAST HAUNT US INTO THE PRESENT. THEY APPROACH US AS HUMAN FIGURES, AS TECHNICAL-INDUSTRIAL ARTEFACTS AND IN NARRATIVES – WITHOUT EVER REALLY BEING PRESENT. THEY ARE SOMATIC EXPERIENCES INSCRIBING THEMSELVES IN THE BODIES AND LEAVING TRACES IN THE COLLECTIVE MEMORY, WITHOUT BELONGING TO THE PRESENT AND NOT ENTIRELY TO THE PAST. THEY ALWAYS REMAIN BETWEEN OBJECTS, PLACES AND MOMENTS. IT IS THESE ABSENCES AND HAUNTINGS THAT VEIT LAURENT KURZ EXPLORES THROUGH HIS WORK IN A VARIETY OF WAYS. HAUNTING MEMORIES FROM A DISTANT PAST AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE FOR A DIVIDED PRESENT THUS COME INTO FOCUS. TECHNICAL CATASTROPHES AND THEIR SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES ARE AN EXAMPLE OF SUCH MODERN GHOSTS.
KURZ’S INTEREST IN THESE PHENOMENA LED HIM TOWARDS OTHER SCIENCES SUCH AS PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY. IN HIS PRACTICE, HE EXPLORES DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO THE THREATENING CONSEQUENCES OF TECHNOLOGICAL AND ECOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS. TODAY, IT IS PARTICULARLY THE YOUTH THAT PROBLEMATIZES THE LOOMING ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS IN THEIR WORRIES ABOUT THE FUTURE ON THIS PLANET. IN DOING SO, THEY ACCUSE THE OLDER GENERATION OF ITS FAILURES (‚HOW DARE YOU‘) AND MAKE AN ISSUE OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NATURE AND CAPITALIST LAND GRABBING.