Exhibition with Larisa Crunțeanu and Sonja Horung, The Presidential Candidate, Xandra Popescu and Adrian Knupppertz and Veda Popovici

Public Speaking works with the accumulated tensions between the ideas of art for art's sake and its potential to produce social change.

Drawing on our experiences as presidential candidates of Romania, high school rhetoric champions, talent show stars, real estate speculators, punk cholos and pop philosophers, we went on to develop a set of tools for the appropriation and subversion of political expression.

The artists propose contradictory artistic strategies ranging from activist and explicit engagement (Revolutionary Gear. Art History Retraced Through the Black Square by Veda Popovici) to subversive (You are Safe With Me by Xandra Popescu and Adrian Knuppertz), poetic (Femina Subtetrix by Larisa Crunțeanu and Sonja Hornung) and meta-language (The Presidential Candidate 2083 by Cosima Opârtan and Ion Dumitrescu).

PUBLIC SPEAKING is realized as Act VI of the District series Curatorial Practices. Fields and Techniques and supported by the Romanian Cultural Institute Berlin.

14./15.5. Workshop Charlatan Seduction - A Public Speaking Workshop created by Xandra Popescu

19.5. Lecture-performance Artist Development by Richard Pettifer, 7pm

27.5. Finissage
6pm Conversations with Larisa Crunțeanu, Daniela Duca, Suza Husse and Xandra Popescu
9pm Proto Manele Concert Performance by Raze de Soare
In the frame of the Performing Arts Festival Berlin, Tickets: 5 Euro via reservix or directly at the door