Power games are played in the field of the political with the Danish artists in this exhibition operating in critical awareness of the political stakes and power relations that structure the social arena. The instability and contingency of social reality that is in sharp contrast with the conventions of political rhetoric provides a starting point for an array of contemporary artistic investigations. In this sense, power exercised through political decision making, national institutions and media constructions is met by artistic strategies of deconstructing national myths, exposing racist subtexts or providing subversive insights.  By facing up to power on many levels, the works in this exhibition contribute to an active democratic debate that can sometimes, as Chantal Mouffe asserts, ‘be conceived as a real confrontation’ and offer a provocative challenge to hegemonic structures.

Although many of the works focus on the flash points of Danish social conflict, from issues of multiculturalism to fears of migration, they offer instructive parallels with recent history in Hungary. Images of burning cars, riots, the repression of minorities and tensions around national symbols resonate with the political landscape in both countries and are a spur to a renewed discussion of artistic engagement and social responsibility. In addition to shedding light on Danish public concerns, several of the artists in the exhibition have been invited to intervene into the social fabric of present day Hungary, bringing their socially-engaged and community-based practices into a new context. These newly commissioned works highlight the media treatment of ethnic minorities, test local responses to the privatisation of public space and deal with environmental awareness and social justice.

The two European countries share not only problems with the rise of nationalism and social unrest in recent years, but also partake in the processes of globalisation, experienced through the impact of the financial crisis, as well as a new awareness of environmental uncertainties. The spectre of neo-liberal global capitalism looms large in PowerGames, as artists contribute to the collective attempt to grasp the nature and scale of current transformations in the world economic system. Furthermore, the issues of gender equality, minority rights and the tolerance of diversity that are rooted in universal notions of human rights, which according to Jürgen Habermas require the emergence of a ‘cosmopolitan solidarity’ that exceeds national borders, provide in the context of this exhibition additional points of comparison between the Danish and Hungarian situations.

The issue of the struggle for popular control of public space, strategies for resistance to the processes of gentrification, as well as the privatisation and surveillance of city life, runs through many of the works in PowerGames.  While both countries share a modern history of uprisings and autonomous movements, from Hungary’s anarchistic interlude during the Republic of Councils in 1919, to the self-run, hippie Freetown of Christiania in Copenhagen, differences in approach can be felt in terms of artistic response. The Danish artists in PowerGames offer acute observations of contemporary social movements, drawing freely on local traditions of direct action and civil disobedience, while the exhibition as a whole provides insight into a wide range of contemporary modes of engaged artistic practice that demonstrate a forthright attitude to asserting democratic rights against the multiple incursions of power.

The opening work of PowerGames is significantly entitled When a Country Falls in Love With Itself. The artist duo Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset intervene into the Danish national imaginary by offering a mirror to the bronze sculpture of Hans Christian Anderson’s Little Mermaid that is both a magnet for tourists and an object of contention for its nationalistic and patriarchal overtones, which resulted in several beheadings of the figure in recent decades. Through their subtle intervention, the artists emphasize the inward looking gaze of nationalist sentiment and invite reflection on the amount of collective emotions placed onto monuments. The Danish Little Mermaid also makes us aware that the politics surrounding public monuments are not solely a live issue for East European artists or within post-communist discourse.     

Controversial social and political events that have been selected for eight postcards, ranging from the opening of the bridge connecting Denmark and Sweden to the heated political fallout following the publication of the Mohammad cartoons in the Danish press, are the subject of the work by Jens Haaning. His Recent Danish History offers a singular distillation of political realities that counters the constructions of history by the mainstream media. Related issues are addressed in Burning Car, a video by Danish collective Superflex that gives a spectacular and evocative account of new forms of violent protest characterised by the destruction of property. It refers to the riots of the Black Block movement following their eviction from the squatted ‘House of Peoples’ in Copenhagen, which eventually resulted in a negotiated settlement with the city administration and the opening of a new youth house, pointing to the possibility of ‘conflictual consensus’ in contemporary democracy.

The duo Bosch and Fjord bring a Danish perspective to the prospect of opening up autonomous spaces in the streets and squares of Budapest. Their project Free Zone involves placing signs in newly marked off public spaces that make permissible social behaviours from kissing to praying and shouting to listening in order to create liberated sites in which the transgression of norms and deviation from social conformity is possible. A concern with sexual politics and gender stereotypes is also found in the work of Ann Lislegaard, whose light and sound installation entitled Slamming the Front Door investigates the resonances of the famous last words of Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House in today’s plural and multi-vocal social context.

Please teach some new tricks to this old dog called nationalism is a fragment of the title of Tanja Nellemann Poulsen’s head-on engagement with Roma politics in Hungary. Focussing on the escalation of nationalism and radicalism in Hungary, the artist uses media references, as well as interviews, to create an installation that interrogates racial stereotypes and prejudices in the public sphere. Taking a different approach is Tue Greenfort’s adaptation of Kaviar Bar, which brings together the streams of ecological and national history by focussing on the disappearance of once plentiful species of sturgeon in the upper Danube. While resonating with the lost memory of Beluga fishing in Budapest, the work boldly confronts the socially-divisive symbolism of caviar as a decadent luxury snack reserved for VIP consumption.   

The exhibition PowerGames also points to the fact that power relations today work not only on the axis of nation-state and citizens, but also increasingly on the level of global capitalism, the mechanisms of which are addressed in several works. Katya Sanders, in her video installation, asks What is Capitalism? referring to the impossibility of defining the nature and notion of the world’s prevailing economic system. Superflex’s series of films entitled Financial Crisis employs a hypnotist to delve into the subconscious for answers to related questions about the fascination with power and market speculation, fear and anxiety of losing control and the prospect of economic disaster. The therapist’s voice, both reassuring and disconcerting, articulates the peculiar moment of history in which the social and political dilemmas explored in PowerGames are played out.

Maja and Reuben Fowkes
www.translocal.org

When a Country Falls in Love With Itself, Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, 2008