Project Description

Cornelius Puschke – éleos

What do you look at?
Some pixels, some letters? A specific mixture of plastic and metal?

Is it a rather big screen in front of you? Do you own it, I mean, is it your property? Or does it belong to someone else?
Are you in debt? Since when? And how much…? Your family, do they know your account balance?
Ok, let’s say it belongs to you. It’s your property.
When did you buy it?
How could you afford it… – did you work for the money? Was it… hard work? Like, physical work? Did you sweat to earn it? Maybe even cry?
Or was it a gift? Wait, no, you inherited the money, right? Did you? Come on, be honest!
No?

You look at these words in a certain way. Your gaze is different to others. And this is not meant as a compliment.
Think of situations when you decided not to look at others although you felt the wish to do it.
Do you know how it feels when other people stare at you? When a gaze becomes political, maybe even violent?

Who did you look at today?
Can you say their names? Describe their appearance.

If this screen could look back at you: Who would it be?
An actor from your favourite Netflix series?
Your secret crush?
A porn star?
Your boss?
Your selfie?
Or a Chinese worker who produced this screen in a factory a couple of months ago?

Take your headphones and plug them in.
Watch the first 30 seconds of this YouTube-Video and then close your eyes.
Keep on listening until the end.

Cornelius Puschke
Berlin (Germany)
16 June 2020
www.corneliuspuschke.com

Commissioned by
Goethe Institut / Federal Foreign Office of Germany, PACT Zollverein and KANAL – Centre Pompidou Brussels.