Transmediale: Steve Kurtz, Johannes Paul Raether “Strange Ecologies: From Necropolitics to Reproductive Revolutions”

Berlin, 6pm-8pm, February 5, 2017, https://2017.transmediale.de

Johannes Paul Raether was talking first. His artwork Protektor.x.x has been also part of the transmediale exhibition. All his thought seem to be channeled through the set of colorful clown-like alter ego performances, where he addresses the questions of gender and biotechnology. He talked about witches preventing a rationalization of techno reality, swarm being and biodigital capitalism. The bottom line was an antirational approach that presents a mirror-like caricature the audience, fulfilling a similar role to that of a court jester.

Steve Kurtz talked from a much more sober and seemingly “rational” position. He walked everyone through a series of case studies from his own practice, pointing out the “irrational” behavior of seemingly “rational” corporations. The “rationality” of legal systems or politics seems to indeed work differently than the commonsense understanding of the word.

Kurtz pointed to the fact that the enlightened concept of rationality functioning hand in hand with morality appears to be inversed in global capitalism: With more rationality, the amount of immorality seems to grow.

He stressed the well-known notion of the amateur as someone who is able to intervene and bring back to earth domains of knowledge that seem to operate beyond limits of common sense logic and seem to be ruled by “expert” rules beyond the categories of moral/immoral.

While Kutz seemed genuinely interested in bringing about change and disrupting an existing logic, even if only temporarily. Raether on the other hand seems to have given up on a political/activist role of art and instead drew on a Dadaist tradition, stressing the meaninglessness of any action taken. Even if actions are meaningless, they still need to be carried out as a kind of primitive ritual, an act that transcends rationalist technology and makes one re-enter into the realm of primordial human culture.