2018
OBJECT I'VE LOST II
1987. A group of families in media and banking operating in the People’s Republic of Gelekitz lobby the government mercilessly for additional tax breaks. Patriarchs from several of the families in question are soon appointed to lowly government positions. Apparently, this is not enough. A package of bills find their way to parliament, which, upon passing by a narrow majority, rank citizens by social hierarchy and afford additional privileges to those in the Overclass. The workers at several of the corporations demonstrate and are brutally suppressed by the Republic.
A strike at Regen Telecommunications in 1988 leads to the death of Nellie Regen, daughter to Pat Regen, CEO and founder of the company. Outraged, Regen punitively lays off millions of employees in the vast business. Protesters take to the street, armed and itching for war. In an act to preserve themselves and their taxable income, several of the families and their colleagues hastily declare their estates to be independent nations, seceding from the chaotic Republic. Limited records are now available from that first week of tumult, finally declassified and released to the public after decades of speculation.
A second exploration of our practice of creating and documenting history. The series poses questions regarding the depiction and understanding of the social classes in an unequal society, and asks us to decide whether wealth or poverty determines criminality. Should the desperate acts of the unemployed be deemed unforgivable? Or is the withdrawal of the elite and the powerful from responsibility the unpunished sin? Can there be such a thing as “class terrorism”, and if so, what should that mean? Who is documenting this process, and how does this documentation influence our sympathies? Finally, what do you think about all of this?
Object I’ve Lost II once again builds a sandbox for us to test questions of real and fictitious society in an imagined space. The artwork exists to give catalyst to the process of testing these questions, but the interaction of the viewer with the piece is integral to its final meaning. Like its predecessor, Objects I’ve Lost II asks us how we make sense of the world around us, and whether we can truly understand a concept without direct experience. It urges us to scrutinize our sources and storytellers, and seek truth with patience and determination.
