Bankleer: Karin Kasböck, D-Berlin (*1969) & Christoph Leitner, D-Berlin (*1968)

On Jan. 1, 2004, Germany's job centres turned into so-called labour agencies. This gives rise to the assumption that from one day to the next the understanding of what labour is also changed. But this is just as little the case as the institution deserves the name "agency". The artists' group bankleer belongs to a number of artistic and activist groups who with their works and actions draw attention to this discrepancy between the expectations and reality of a modern employment exchange. They examine the question of what labour can still mean today, at a time when next to constantly overworked persons who have a job there are more and more people who hardly have a chance anymore of defining their life through gainful employment. And what does one work for in the first place? To acquire an exchange value for something that guarantees livelihood or because it is a responsible activity around which one's life revolves? Since the concept of labour is reduced to gainful employment and thus precludes all other fields of activity as well as a self-determined way of life with its own economy of time, Karin Kasböck and Christoph Leitner promote its expansion and re-evaluation.

The artists' group has been collaborating as bankleer since 1998 and uses performances, docu-fictional videos and the techniques of "expanded cinema" to create stage-like installations dealing with media- and economy-critical topics. Their activities stand in the tradition of the activist, institution-critical networking of the 1990s - a tradition of collectivist, project-oriented forms of self-organisation. They integrate video activism in art actions and the use of public space with actions and exhibitions in the self-contained white cube of cultural institutions.

Bankleer seek playful expressions for their critical comments. They address the topics they are concerned with using simple allegories. For example, they ask the audience to step onto a quickly rotating disc. Only the person who makes it to the centre and can stay there exits the game unharmed. All others are pushed down at the edge by the centrifugal force. In bankleer's opinion, this is what the situation on today's labour market is like. One after the other, the subjects are thrown off the track: a speaking picture for a time of accelerated rotation on an increasingly deserted labour market.

Bankleer: where works ends and mission begins, 2005 in Zusammenarbeit mit Heidi Mühlschlegel und Katja Melches, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart + Plattform Berlin + Les Complices Zürich

Bankleer: dereguliert I, Still, Video (9.30 min.), Stuttgart 2004 + oda projesi, Istanbul 2004 + Shedhalle Zürich 2005 + Kunstraum Kreuzberg Bethanien 2005

Curriculum vitae

lives and works in Berlin

lives and works in Berlin

Bankleer: raus aus der arbeit, rein mit der realität! 2004, Video (20 min.) Installation + Aktionswoche in der Agentur für Arbeit, Stuttgart in Zusammenarbeit mit den Arbeitsloseninitiativen Salz, Wut und Lagalo.

exhibitions, festivals (selection)

"Emby 1", Ideenshop, Berlin / Danger Museum, London

videos (selection)

"Police Family", Video/Farbe/Ton (2.25 Min.), Berlin

publications (selection)

2005

2004

awards and grants

2005

2004

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