David Roeder: Ideals for a Future Livin'

Investigating aesthetic, spiritual and literary manoeuvres that we use in order to reconcile ourselves with the perpetual dread that lurks in our houses and homes, our walks to work and our wayward minds.

Ten paintings, ten writings and something to listen to.

„Befreie dich von deinen negativen Gedanken“ ist so eine komische Idee, so eine Art Guru-Variante des ollen „Lach doch mal!“, dass dir von einem halb runter gekurbelten Autofenster zugeschmissen wird […] Ich frag mich, wie viele Leute so eine bescheuerte Aufforderung tatsächlich zum Anlass nehmen um sich selbst zum lächeln zu bringen, als wäre das so oder so nicht schon schwer genug. Oder wie viele Frauen sich tatsächlich umdrehen, nachdem ihnen hinterher gepfiffen wurde, so von wegen: „Hi ihr Süßen, toll das ich euch aufgefallen bin! Und ihr so?“

“Let go of negative thoughts” is such a weird one, like some sort of guru-variation of ye olde “cheer up” thrown at you from a halfway-rolled-down car window […] I wonder how many people actually take such a dumb request as an initiative to try and make themselves cheer up, as if that wasn’t a hard enough thing to do anyway. Or how many women actually turn around after being whistled at, like: “Hi Sweeties –glad you noticed me! What are you up to?”

Mirjam Hentschel as Doris in “Die Vorstadt glänzt mit einem bösen Auge”

„Die Vorstadt glänzt mit einem bösen Auge“ (“The Suburbs glare with an Evil Eye”) is a German TV-Drama from 1978 that got shelved due to an array of producers prematurely dropping the project which was aimed to illuminate ideas of the then-emerging New Age Movement to the German public via precocious teenage protagonist Doris (played by the artist’s aunt Mirjam Hentschel). It was, alongside Italo Calvino’s “Six Memos for A New Millenium” and Unwound’s “Challenge for a Civilized Society”, one of the starting points for this exhibition.

Please note there will be no closing event, as previously advertised.

Accessibility note: Several objects will be placed in a small circle in the middle of the room. CCA's full access statement can be found here.