Exhibition View, Kunsthaus Hamburg 2014

Machtspiele (Power Games)

Size approx. 2,5 x 3,5 m, mixed media (nails, cotton thread)

1. Mantra - Sound

The word power is spoken repeatedly by people from different countries in their mother tongue (german, english, spanisch, french and italian). What does the repetition do to the meaning? While speaking or hearing this, the term loses its significance and becomes more and more abstract like a mantra.

The recordings are played in loops.

The used languages also represent (former) colonial powers. There are always two speakers heard, one from the right, one from the left. Each speaker has a personal and individual rhythm, the voices overlap, go with or against the rhythm of the other.

2. Pulling the strings - signs

The second part of the work is a draft of a universal flag.
Threads are stretched over nails on the wall. The shapes represent the most common flagdesigns of the 194 officially by the UNO recognized sovereign states.

The function of a flag as a widely visible sign is dissolved by only using the basic part of it – the thread. The outlines in their neutral color remind of sports playgrounds.

Frauke Hänke, 2014