Umelec 1-2012 (English)

DON’T TELL US WHO WE ARE. DELAINE LE BAS' INSTALLATION WITCH HUNT
Somewhere between the demonization and romantization of Romany culture, Delaine Le Bas seeks out a fragile reality that hides more than one cliché, stereotype and simplification. The diverse innocuousness of her vibrantly colorful installation is complemented by a reading of equally colorful news stories.

MANIFEST DESTINY
American history is filled with stories about how to hide chauvinism and expansion behind lofty ideals of inevitable fate, of a manifest destiny to settle paradise; how to endlessly, shamelessly, and by force expand the boundaries of one’s garden. Joyce Hatto, too, had a nearly unbounded approach to reality, making nearly 120 recordings of piano concerts in her life. One of England’s greatest female pianists – or maybe not?

CHANEL NO. 5
In the evening, after an entire day spent scanning official documents and with his fingers trembling from all that dematerialization, a person might, as he his falling asleep, slap his forehead in the realization that he would feel better if, in the morning, he stopped doing his job and refused to wipe the dust of the scanner’s glass surface. Only the dusty bits of cellulose on his nasal membranes now remind him satisfactorily that, even though he is easily lost, he can just as easily still find himself.

THE HORROR OF MCNALLY'S CRITIQUE
If the monstrous nature of capitalism calls for monstrous comparisons, perhaps our method of evaluation should be monstrous as well. Wouldn’t this be the least we could do, assuming that we are already living a nightmare? Or must we preserve our humility evening in the face of horror, not succumb to the delusions of well-fitting metaphors and not fight the devil with his own tools?

MY CAREER IN POETRY OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE INSTITUTION
An American poet was invited to the White House in order to read his controversial plagiarized poetry. All tricked out and ready to do it his way, he comes to the “scandalous” realization that nothing bothers anyone anymore, and instead of banging your head against the wall it is better to build you own walls or at least little fences.

AFRICAN VAMPIRES IN THE AGE OF GLOBALISATION
"In Cameroon, rumours abound of zombie-labourers toiling on invisible plantations in an obscure night-time economy."

NO FUTURE FOR CENSORSHIP
Author dreaming of a future without censorship we have never got rid of. It seems, that people don‘t care while it grows stronger again.