Nicht mehr, noch nicht

Some time ago individuality ceased to be a mere emancipatory impulse, a manner of freeing oneself from rigid social orders, and became instead a societal imperative. While many members of the middle class profit from autonomy and personal responsibility and consider these ways of improving their status, for the large group that has not been swept forwards by the flood of liberalisation new social insecurity represents an existential threat. The dependency of “individuals” on the market undermines societal solidarity. Western industrialised countries have become societies of precarity and polarisation, writes Oliver Nachtwey in his book Downward Mobility. Dissent in the Age of Regressive Modernity. In addition to an analysis of social and economic changes since the end of the relative redistribution of wealth in social modernity, Nachtwey discusses the current antiauthoritarian protest movements, the focus of which is a reinvention of democratic practices. The initiatives and open communities emerging above all in urban contexts have given rise to new hopes for a modern age of solidarity in the future. In the context of these issues the exhibition curated by Florian Wüst for the Werkleitz Festival 2017 sets out on a historical-contemporary journey from Havana to New York, Berlin and Athens. Cinematic, musical and installative works by Emanuel Almborg, Clara Stella Hüneke, Ina Wudtke, Florian Zeyfang & Lisa Schmidt-Colinet & Alexander Schmoeger reflect the possibilities and difficulties of an urban development from below oriented towards a common good.