Peace Keeping Force and Broken Hearts, 2021
Used mattresses and textile printing ink (FUCK AIRBNB WE SHARE THIS VIEW), 373 × 315 × 18 cm / and their eyes became sharper
The individual elements made out of used mattresses from private bedrooms, when put together, create the large heart shape of the work Peace Keeping Force and Broken Hearts. The cute, colorful puzzle of recycled mattresses is based on the pattern of a simplified patchwork camouflage pattern and bears the large, bold and provocative protest slogan "Fuck Airbnb", which in typography and content is taken from the organization NOlympics Los Angeles. NOlympics LA deals with displacement by and militarization of the Olympic Games, which have always been political and are part of a globally networked organization.
In the context of the Olympics (2028 in LA) and the touristification it creates, in addition to the consequences for urban development, rents are rising, displacing residents and increasing short-term rentals, especially through illegal Airbnbs. Airbnb threatens social housing policies in metropolitan areas worldwide.
Moreover, we are often part of these Airbnb structures ourselves, either as consumers or victims. Peace Keeping Force and Broken Hearts is a game of seduction and one is left to decide whether to read "we share this view" as the shared and romanticized view from Airbnb, much in the spirit of the heart-shaped mattress battlefield, and take a seat there, or whether to count oneself among the perspective and community of affected persons of displacement who have gathered here and rebel against consistent displacement.
In the title of the work, love and politics unite. What is certain is that peacekeeping forces are used for protection and broken hearts need protection. Who is meant and who feels addressed?
The work Peace Keeping Force and Broken Hearts tells of relationships, intimacy, dreams, rushing euphoria and ideals, but also of distance, pain, loss and alienation.
The message we share this view is also the title of a sound work as part of the overall exhibition and their eyes became sharper. The 22 minute long piece consists of musically underlaid excerpts of interviews with Dr. Graham Pruss, Richard Brox and Theo Henderson, who - as experts, activists and affected persons - comment on the structural problems in the areas of affordable housing, housing shortages, homelessness and public space as political space.
Photo: Tamara Lorenz, liebschuh, Selma Gültoprak
Installation view: Martinetz, 2021