Für Camille B., 2016

Mixed media installation

In a war against France, the Germans finally found a crown to bow to. They founded their empire in 1871 as the occupying power sitting in Versailles. Among the young nation’s first heroic deeds was aiding the French reaction in crushing the Paris Commune, one of the most progressive political movements of its century. It was finally defeated by mass executions carried out with Prussian assistance. Then came the German colonial adventures with their genocides and deportations. A pattern was set.

And today? Today, German children drop dead one after another at Tropical Islands, an indoor holiday resort. Over and over. And over again. As though they kept being executed before the exotic décors of a fake paradise of prosperity. Palm trees tower beneath a fake sky where Cargolifter, a widely hyped business venture that was supposed to be a flagship of the East German economic recovery, ran aground. The plan was to build airships that would ferry German products to remote markets. Honi soit qui mal y pense: surely the public subsidies were not an instance of colonialist economic stimulus? In any case, the children keep dropping dead. Silently and without so much as a word or gesture. They wear the clothes of the Paris Communards who took bullets to the chest, stomach, and legs for the idea of equality. Might all these things somehow be connected? In this peculiar German history? *

Im Krieg gegen die Franzosen brachten sich die Deutschen endlich unter eine Krone. 1871 gründeten sie ihr Reich als Besatzungsmacht im okkupierten Versailles. Eine der ersten Heldentaten der jungen Nation war die Unterstützung der französischen Reaktionäre bei der Zerschlagung einer der fortschrittlichsten politischen Bewegungen des Jahrhunderts, der Pariser Commune. Sie fand ihr Ende mit preußischer Hilfe in Massenhinrichtungen. Es folgten die deutschen Kolonialabenteuer mit ihren Genoziden und Deportationen, und so ähnlich ging es dann ja weiter.

Und heute? Heute fallen im Freizeitpark Tropical Islands reihenweise deutsche Kinder um. Immer wieder. Und erneut. Wie immerzu erschossen in den exotischen Kulissen eines falschen Wohlstandsparadieses. Da wo heute Palmen unter falschem Himmel stehen, scheiterte einst das aufsehenerregende Aufbau-Ost-Projekt Cargolifter. Das sollte neue Zeppeline bauen, um deutsche Güter in schwer erreichbare Absatzmärkte zu transportieren. Ein Schelm, wer darin eine kolonialistische Konjunkturmaßnahme sieht. Die Kinder jedenfalls, die fallen dort noch einmal. Still, tonlos und lakonisch. Sie tragen die Kleidung der Pariser Kommunarden, die für die Idee der Gleichheit Schüsse in Brust, Bauch und Beine kassierten. Ob das alles irgendetwas miteinander zu tun hat? In dieser sonderlichen deutschen Geschichte?

Alice Creischer, Für Camille B. / To Camille B., 2016, HD Video as part of a mixed media installation, 24:40 minutes

Alice Creischer, Für Camille B. / To Camille B., 2016, 5 costumes as part of a mixed media installation

Alice Creischer, Für Camille B. / To Camille B., 2016, 5 costumes as part of a mixed media installation, detail

Mixed media installation consisting ofs ingle channel HD video (16:9, color,silent), 5 costumes, collage, 24:40 min, Dimensions variable
* excerpt from Alexander Koch about Alice Creischer's Exhibition at KOW 2018
photos: Ladislav zajac

INDEX:

Pattern

Community

Austerity

Violence

Neo-liberalism

Germany

Attack

Conflict

Resistance

Regime

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Alice Creischer

**WIDERLEGUNG DER GESCHICHTE VON ANTEK PISTOLE, 2021**

**Solo Exhibition at Culturgest Lisbon, 2017**

**Proudhon, die Gesellschaft des 10. Dezember und der Club der faulen Debitoren, 2000-2015**

**In the Stomach of the Predators, 2012-2014**

**Das Etablissement der Tatsachen / The Establishment of Matters of Fact, 2012**

**Auf einmal und gleichzeitig. Eine Machbarkeitsstudie. Musikalische Szenen zur Negation von Arbeit, 2007**

**Apparat zum osmotischen Druckausgleich von Reichtum bei der Betrachtung von Armut / Apparatus for the Osmotic Compensation of the Pressure of Wealth during the Contemplation of Poverty, 2005-2007**

**Atlas 2003 ongoing (Updating the Arntz and Neurath Atlas) in collaboration with Andreas Siekmann**

**Eine Flussfahrt wie am Tellerrand / A Boat Trip Around the Edge of the Plate, 2003**

**Feindesliebchen / The Enemy's Sweetheart, 2002**

**Episoden zur arbeitsbefreiten Gesellschaft / Episodes of a society free of work, 1996-2002**

**The Greatest Happiness Principle Party, 2001**

**L'Atelier de la peintrice / The Woman Painter's Atelier, 2000**

**Arbeitsplatzprojektionsmaschine, 1998-1999**

**Gruppe Gummi K - Wie Eins zum Andern Kam..., 1996**

Biography

Alice Creischer, born in Gerolstein in 1960, studied Philosophy, German literature and Visual Arts in Düsseldorf. As one of the key figures of German political art movements in the Nineties, Creischer contributed to a great amount of collective projects, publications, and exhibitions. Her artistic and theoretic agenda within institutional and economical critique has evolved over 20 years, more recently focusing on the early history of capitalism and globalization. As co-curator of such paradigmatic exhibitions like Messe 2ok (1995), ExArgentina (2004) and The Potosi Principle (2010), Creischer has developed a specific curatorial practice that correlates with her work as an artist and theorist, including her extensive practice in archive research. As author Creischer has contributed to many publications, magazines and fanzines. She has been awarded a few prizes throughout the years, most recently of the Günther-Peill-Stiftung (Düren, 2018). She has hold solo exhibitions at institutions such as Stadtgalerie Wedding, Berlin (2019), Culturgest, Lisbon (2017), ifa Galerie, Berlin (2013), MACBA, Barcelona (2008) and secession Vienna (2001). Her work has been shwon in group shows at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2022, 2021, 2019, 2017), Künstlerhaus Bethanien (2021), LWL Museum, Münster (2021), Gropius Bau, Berlin (2019), Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven (2018), Museum der Moderne, Salzburg (2016), ludwig Forum aachen (2015) among others.

Full Biography

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