Manifesto collectively read in the Akademie der Bildenden Künste Wien in 2012
I
Art does not stand outside of politics. The more we are conscious about this, the more power we can gather to transform all levels of reality.
Auctions paradigmatically show the symbiotic relationship between the neoliberal capitalist machinery and the art world. But this relationship can be deconstructed and subverted. Auctions make also evident how art and artists are instrumentalized. But using the auction as a tool for political action, art can reclaim all spaces that are being occupied by this very system of neoliberal capitalism. The bureaucratic hurdles during the process of immigration are part of the capitalist system. This performance intervenes into the bureaucracy, but it doesn’t change the oppressive reality migrants have to deal with every day.
M
Therefore this auction cannot be the final step. It is concerned with a small aspect in the fight against unjust racist laws within European societies, which base on a long history of oppression. To act emancipatory we must not stay in the superficial act of solidarity, because solidarity alone does not change much in the larger frame of discriminatory structures.
Do we give you the impression that your money could change the racist legislations of this country? It is only softening the situation of very few people, but still doesn’t mean that they can live a fully self-determined life. A fully self-determinded life would mean to be treated equally not only on paper but also in reality.
V
Rassistische Strukturen zu akzeptieren bedeutet, Teil von ihnen zu sein. Auch Geld für einen guten Zweck auszugeben reicht noch nicht. Notwendig ist ein politischer Kampf, der zum Ziel hat, das System grundlegend zu verändern.
Fordern wir unsere Körper und Gedanken zurück, um sie gegen das einzusetzen, was uns und unsere Freund_innen unterdrückt und dazu führt, dass Menschen an den Grenzen vor allem Europas und der USA sterben.
M
Gegen das kapitalistische neoliberale System mit seinen Ausschlussmechanismen und seinem bürokratischen Apparat zu kämpfen, bedeutet auf seine eigenen Privilegien zu scheißen. Gedanken, Worte, Texte und Aktionen können den Diskurs des Systems, und mit ihm die Realität verändern, d.h. in unser eigenes Leben eingreifen.
J
To those who believe that capitalism is the natural way of how the world functions and therefore elevate it onto a sacralized position we say:
We profane this spectacle of the a(u)ction
We profane this institution
We despise and profane the laws of discrimination
Only human action as a political act is able to cut the relationship between violence and law. This is a call for resistance, the future will not belong to the sexist and racist capital but it will be OUR future.