SMOOTH, 2020
Metal, PVC
200 x 500 cm
for Astra Opening, curated by Anna Heiss and Anna Wenter
The object Smooth shows an alienated trawl net, which is normally used to pull off tennis fields. The Pvc-net, realized in extra length, stands for the smoothness as a symbol of our time."...It embodies today’s society of positivity. What is smooth does not injure. Nor does it offer any resistance. It is looking for Like. The smooth object deletes it’s Against. Any form of negativity is removed."(Byung Chul Han: Saving Beauty S.9, 2015)
From art to communication to politics, we experience a culture of sympathy: everything flows in soft transitions. The aesthetics of smoothness is not only a body trend, but also a symbol of digital communication. Behind the mirror-smooth smartphone, a space of positivity is created, where sharing and likes eliminate negativities and accelerate communication. The positivity of the Smooth accelerates the cycles of information, communication and capital and expulses the dialogue with the other: "
„ What used to be the Other, be it as friend, as Eros or as hell, is now indistinguishable from the self in our narcissistic desire to assimilate everything and everyone until there are no boundaries left. The result is a 'terror of the Same', lives in which we no longer pursue knowledge, insight and experience but are instead reduced to the echo chambers and illusory encounters offered by social media…“ (Byung Chul Han: The Expulsion of the Other: Society, Perception and Communication Today, 2018)