“We see art not as a mirror to hold up to reality but as a hammer with which to shape it.” – Mayakowski
„Battle of the Spectacle“ is an art project operating at the crossroads of art and environmental activism. The “solutions” which are being discussed under the United Nations framework are not only unjust but also incapable of effectively combatting climate change. In a time when all political events are staged events, the demands of repressed minorities will only be heard if they are presented as a spectacle. El Martillo was born in order to visualise that struggle into one iconic image: a twelve meter tall inflatable “Trojan” sculpture completely in silver. Just like the Trojan horse it has been smuggled into the enemy camp in order to transport a message that would normally never reach the mainstream media.
El Martillo will be put into action by the climate justice group Marea Creciente Mexico on the demonstration of 30th of November in Mexico City. On that demonstration social movements converge to protest for the rights of Mother Earth at the COP 16. It is very unlikely that El Martillo will survive the COP 16, as a matter of fact, we are counting on the police to destroy it within the first couple of days.
We invite you to the opening of our exhibition “Battle of the Spectacle” on the 27th of November in the OKK Raum in Berlin. Here you will be able to view prototypes of “El Martillo,” video documentation and original sketches. You will also be able to follow the events in Mexico by live stream in our media center that will be set up by the net activist group “Terminal 21.”
There will also be documentation material from the making of El Martillo on display, making visible the collective process. It was sown together out of reflective insulation foil during a two week long workshop in which twenty different people from all over the world, including a local Turkish dressmaker participated.
The exhibition will also connect Cancún with the last climate conference in Copenhagen – the COP 15. The artist duo Jakub Simcik & Artúr van Balen will be putting two separate works on display, which are both the result of a bicycle trip from Berlin to Copenhagen in 2009. Artúr van Balen will be exhibiting an installation made out of his specially manufactured tall bike, appropriating the visual form of a flashy car fair and combining it with activist relics into a witty and ironic take on green capitalism. Jakub Simcik on the other hand is showing a documentary, focusing on activism as spectacle and questioning the role of media in political debate.