At a time when elements of fascisation are becoming ever more apparent, ever more pervasive, This Suffocating Now takes a personal look at what is in the air in Germany today. The 16-minute essay video witnesses the historical present as a condition marked by vectors of violence that have continuously and habitually existed, and puts its focus on the fault lines that have most explicitly exposed the illiberal underbelly of a liberal state and society in recent years: Palestine solidarity as well as queer and trans rights.

An essayistic text is superimposed onto the video’s image track, guiding the viewer through a fragmentary audio-visual arrangement. Drawing from a vast variety of source material, This Suffocating Now flows in an uneven rhythm through still and moving imagery, including blurry protest footage, scenes recorded during a wrist surgery Kirchenbauer underwent, prior CT scans, social media clips, and screenshots of sports broadcasts. The video work explores the underlying patterns that connect the artist’s experience of medical gender discrimination with other instances in which one social group is marked as a supposed threat to the safety of another. Observations from the past three years—such as the increased police presence and recurring police violence, which Kirchenbauer captures from her balcony in Berlin—are viewed within a broader German historical framework.
 
Over mundane images of her home improvement efforts, Kirchenbauer problematises her own social ascent to becoming a university professor and civil servant. This personal reflection serves as an entry point to addressing the intimate relation between state and contemporary art in the German cultural system as a whole. By making direct reference to a recent parliamentary resolution and institutional disinvitations of artists, the video work responds to a contemporary reality in which actions are increasingly being taken not necessarily upon the current legal standing, but rather in anticipation of what might be (un)lawful in the future. 

The work has been co-commissioned by the Württembergischer Kunstverein in Stuttgart, Germany, which granted Kirchenbauer access to its archives. A particular focus on the years before the National Socialist takeover of government in Germany brings questions to the fore about the ways in which authoritarian tendencies are reliant on individual empowerment. Loosely structured around scenes that reflect pre-emptive obedience and libidinal striving for power, This Suffocating Now investigates art institutions’ troubling tradition of self-preservation as well as the changing ways in which contemporary art serves the nation.

CREDITS
Music – COOL FOR YOU
Script Advisers – Judith Sieber, Ali El-Darsa, Miriam Stoney, Rita Macedo
Set Construction – Vika Kirchenbauer, Max Geisler