Are We Human?

Official program VORSPIEL | Transmediale & CTM 2019

Sunday 5 January from 5pm

Atelierhof Kreuzberg, Schleiermacherstraße 31-37, 10961 Berlin

Rebecca Agnes | Cristiano Cesolari | Costantino Ciervo | Irwin | Maruska Mazza | Stefania Migliorati | Christian Niccoli | Fried Rosenstock | Alexandra Wolframm

Curated by Cristiano Cesolari for Peninsula e.V.

The title is inspired by George Orwell’s groundbreaking novel “1984”, first published in 1949. At the time of writing, shortly after the end of WWII, Orwell was one of the few visionaries looking at the future as being a time much darker than anything that came before. The complex plot of the book constructs and explores a dystopian world, where society is controlled by the elusive Big Brother and oppressed using propaganda to empty the population of their humanity. History is altered to support a constructed reality.

Now, in 2019, 35 years after the ‘past future’ that was imagined 70 years ago, the world described in “1984” reflects contemporary reality more than Orwell could ever have believed. Plots for power, loss of humanity and a lack of social compassion can be seen globally every day.

Now is not the time to passively disagree with such politics. Now is the time to act, otherwise we will all be responsible for the outcome of our collective apathy. Artists must play an active role in overcoming these (in)human behaviours turning on the light once again, the beacon of human spirit and actively promoting evolution, in the hope that people will wake up from their numb state.

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