Deenesh in blue, 2013
Installation view
Presented as a part of The Oracle, a project by ƒƒ
Organized by Melissa Steckbauer & Mathilde ter Heijne
The Wand, Berlin

The Oracle: »What is your prophecy for the future?«
The Oracle is a research project by ƒƒ about how the future is envisioned today. By generating wishes for a utopian future or by channeling fears of a dystopian nature, the project generates an overview of reflections on today’s society. The Oracle is a collective imagining realized by its participants. Instead of the traditional and supernatural voice of a sole oracle, its power is redistributed to include a multitude of voices, with the site of reception localized at The Wand. “What is your prophecy for the future?”

Deenesh in blue, 2013, cut paper
Melissa Steckbauer
The sensual passage below is from Melville's classic, Moby Dick.  For this piece, I carved into the image of the body of a friend of mine; here he innocently poses for me in Bitilasana or cow pose.  I find that the nature of his gesture mirrors the passage as both innocuous and still full of errant will.  The work functions as a projector as the text dominates the neighboring wall with hopeful iteration.  "Squeeze! squeeze! squeeze! all the morning long; I squeezed that sperm till I myself almost melted into it; I squeezed that sperm till a strange sort of insanity came over me; and I found myself unwittingly squeezing my co-laborers' hands in it, mistaking their hands for the gentle globules. Such an abounding, affectionate, friendly, loving feeling did this avocation beget; that at last I was continually squeezing their hands, and looking up into their eyes sentimentally; as much as to say,- Oh! my dear fellow beings, why should we longer cherish any social acerbities, or know the slightest ill-humor or envy! Come; let us squeeze hands all round; nay, let us all squeeze ourselves into each other; let us squeeze ourselves universally into the very milk and sperm of kindness."

Photos: Ben Busch
To see the complete works from that exhibition, click.