March 19 to July 3
Senam Okudzeto
Capitalism and Schizophrenia
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Component parts:
1. Book covers in vitrine
2. Fax letters and contracts from con-artist
3. Diary poster of pages from con-artist’s diary
4. Poster of 419 scam emails
5. Small ink text drawings interpreting Deleuze
Opening and artist talk:
March 18, 6.30 pm
Introduction to Concept
The city of Fribourg is a small, picturesque university town just to the north of Geneva. Its gently fading economy has been in need of a lift for some years. In order to address this problem, the city council selectively invited prominent businessmen to become residents of the town; additional sweeteners were laid on in the form of large bank loans and tax breaks. One such man was forced to leave in a great hurry, having been caught in dishonest dealings by the authorities. «Capitalism and Schizophrenia» is an artwork centered around the «Library,»— a floor-based vitrine that holds fragments of an abandoned archive: the book sleeves of roughly two hundred business school self-help books. In addition, the audience is presented with phony business contracts, diary entries and correspondence, acquired from the irate landlord of a Swiss con-artist who resided in Fribourg as an invitee of the City Council. His abandoned apartment contained documents and letters detailing his activities. He has been missing since 2002, when he was forced into hiding in order to escape arrest by INTERPOL … >>