Utopian Pulse – Flares in the Darkroom is a project by Ines Doujak and Oliver Ressler that has been realised in different formats since 2014. On MOCAK’s elevation banners made by 12 artists will be presented, showcasing utopian projections that serve the purposes of secession from and resistance to the world of now. Most of these banners were originally produced for the façade of the Secession pavilion in Vienna.
Some works relate to the uprisings, occupations and social movements that have emerged in recent years, expressing a quest for a better world. Others are poetic references to the feeling that ‘something is missing’. They aim to liberate utopia from its totalitarian connotations and give it a fresh direction as the need to create utopian visions is urgent at times when people are searching for alternatives. Although the works are displayed one after another, there is an interaction between them, and they demonstrate various takes on the utopian drive of recent years.
The 12 banners (measuring 3.4 × 9 m) will be exhibited on the façade of Building B and changed monthly. The following artists produced banners: Mariam Ghani (I), Daniel Ortiz (II), Undrawing the Line (III), Halil Altindere (IV), Giuseppe Campuzano / Miguel A. López (V), Matthew Hyland / Ines Doujak (VI), Christoph Schäfer (VII), Oreet Ashery (VIII), Bert Theis (IX), Nobodycorp. Internationale Unlimited (X), Oliver Ressler (XI), Etcétera (XII).
Since 2004, Mariam Ghani and Chitra Ganesh have been running the experimental archive Index of the Disappeared, which involves collecting proverbs, protest slogans and fragments of poetry from all over the world. ‘You say we are the dust. Who can stop the dust?’ was the slogan that, in 2007, accompanied protests of Indians who, as a result of industrialisation, had been driven out of their traditional woodland and rural areas.
On her banner, Ghani has paraphrased and amplified the slogan, whilst retaining the poetic tone of the original. She has succeeded in relating her work to the context of its original presentation in 2014 on the façade of the Secession building in Vienna – a symbol of art that cannot be contained within traditional conventions. Ghani’s slogan draws on the motto displayed on that building: ‘To every age its art. To every art its freedom’.