Hito Steyerl Reanimates Presentation Pulled From Documenta 15

Hito Steyerl b. 1966, Germany Follow +

Hito Steyerl’s cave-like environment Animal Spirits (2022) showed at Esther Schipper over Berlin Gallery Weekend.

The work was commissioned by the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul for Steyerl’s solo show A Sea of Data (2022), and made a short-lived appearance at Documenta 15 before Steyerl pulled it due to concerns about the organisers’ handling of an antisemitic caricature found in one of the works.

It’s now back in a new site-specific format as part of the solo show Contemporary Cave Art, on view at Esther Schipper through 25 May.

Taking its name from economist John Maynard Keynes’ term to describe the human instincts and emotions that influence consumer behaviour, Animal Spirits explores themes of cultural production in the post-pandemic era, including the rise of NFTs and crypto-currency.

Animal Spirits comprises a film and live AI-animated palaeolithic cave paintings that are projected on surrounding screens. Living plants encased in glass spheres and illuminated by coloured LEDs hang from the ceiling. Described as ‘the brains of the installation’, the spheres also contain sensors measuring key parameters for plant health, which react to the audience and alter the animations.

These ‘brains’ are being sold for 1,700–2,000 euros (US $1,800 to $2,100) a piece, with proceeds going towards building a health centre in the Syrian village of Jinwar, which was established to provide women refuge from violence.

The donation will be delivered through transcultural community garden project Hevrîn Xelef and Flamingo e.v, a network for refugee women and children—who are responsible for planting and maintaining the flora in the exhibition.Esther Schipper was one of 55 galleries who participated in this year’s Gallery Weekend Berlin from 28 to 30 April.

Other notable shows during the event included Cao Fei‘s Duotopia at Sprüth Magers, as well as Galeria Plan B‘s inaugural exhibition in its new Berlin space at Strausberger Platz 1. —[O]

Main image: Hito Steyerl, Animal Spirits (2022). Single channel HD video, live computer simulation, sensor devices, glass spheres, organic materials. Duration: 24 min; simulation duration variable. Dimensions variable. Exhibition view: Hito Steyerl, Contemporary Cave Art, Esther Schipper, Berlin, 2023. Courtesy the artist, Andrew Kreps Gallery, NewYork, and Esther Schipper, Berlin/Paris/Seoul. © The artist / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023. Photo: © Andrea Rossetti.