(screenshot of Hito Steyerl’s photo
on Facebook) (click to enlarge)
In response to the German government’s
insistence on imposing austerity measures on Greece, the artists representing
Germany at this year’s
Venice Biennale have made a simple but powerful statement in support of the debt-ridden nation. As Hito Steyerl shared in a photo
posted
to Facebook, she and a number of artists and Biennale employees hung a
Greek flag emblazoned with the word “GERMONEY” in red over the word
“Germania” on the façade of the German pavilion in Venice’s Giardini to
protest austerity. As per her post:
Today, the artists of the German Pavilion and a number of
the workers of the 56th Venice Biennial covered the Germania sign on
the pavilion with a Greek flag and the word “Germoney.” We show our
solidarity with the people in Greece and all other places suffering from
austerity. As cultural workers and artists we demand an end to
austerity for health, culture, and education while public funding for
banks and oligarchs seems unlimited.
#AusterityKills, #CancelGreekdebt, #Germoney
Below, Steyerl named the artists who signed the statement, commenting
on her post — Julia Akimova, Teresa Bauer, Tim Bitten, Matteo Binci,
Anna Böckers, Marco Carrino, Jacopo David, Antonia Deckert, Alexander
Deubl, Davide Giacometti, Franke Helbig, Kim Eun Jeong, Christian Kliem,
Corinne Mazzoli, Jasmina Metwaly, Anja Predeick Luca Pili, Philip Rizk,
Konstantin Landuris, Olaf Nicolai, Michela Solinas, Steyerl, and Tobias
Zielony. Hyperallergic reached out to the pavilion’s organizers for
comment on the artists’ gesture of solidarity toward Greece, but has
received no response.
The action comes in the wake of another
recent protest
by activists representing Global Justice Now and Jubilee Debt Campaign,
who projected images of German Chancellor Angela Merkel between the
words “CANCEL GREEK DEBT” on the German embassy in London.
hyperallergic.com
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