Sa, 22.2.25

“THE ESG SHITSHOW” – Collective Reading & Discussion with Sonja Hornung & Dede Tognozzi

Reading

Artists  Sonja Hornung & Daniele Tognozzi

Time  16:00 – 18:00

Curated by  Sybille Neumeyer

Where and how do power and per­for­ma­ti­vi­ty, com­pli­ci­ty, and deep-sea­ted struc­tu­ral ine­qua­li­ties under green­wa­shing stra­te­gies unfold? What hap­pens when repre­sen­ta­ti­on is redu­ced to the manage­ment of risk?

THE ESG SHITSHOW or We Can’t Afford a Tragedy of the Horizon is a coll­ec­ti­ve rea­ding and melo­dra­ma about the recent ori­g­ins of green­wa­shing, and the peo­p­le and finan­ce struc­tures that pro­mo­te it. Comprised most­ly of quo­tes that have been copy-pas­ted from the inter­net, the work fea­tures the voices of the World Bank, an idea­li­stic UN repre­sen­ta­ti­ve, a dis­il­lu­sio­ned Black Rock sus­taina­bi­li­ty inves­tor, for­mer US vice-pre­si­dent Al Gore, an expert lef­tist macroe­co­no­mist, an eco­fe­mi­nist, and a self-righ­teous acti­vist – among others.

The work is desi­gned to be read aloud tog­e­ther by a group of peo­p­le. At the begin­ning of the rea­ding, the artists will intro­du­ce the melodrama’s cha­rac­ters. The script will be shared, and atten­de­es can choo­se to read a role. Everyone is encou­ra­ged to read bad­ly, with con­vic­tion. The rea­ding is fol­lo­wed by an open dis­cus­sion, mode­ra­ted by the artists.

THE ESG SHITSHOW or We Can’t Afford a Tragedy of the Horizon addres­ses ques­ti­ons around power and per­for­ma­ti­vi­ty, com­pli­ci­ty, deep-sea­ted struc­tu­ral ine­qua­li­ties, and what hap­pens when repre­sen­ta­ti­on is redu­ced to the manage­ment of risk. Since 2023, it has been per­for­med in a num­ber of acti­vist and art-insti­tu­tio­nal con­texts, from the Ende Gelände System Change Camp to the sta­ti­on urba­ner kulturen/nGbK Hellersdorf.

Sonja Hornung & Daniele Tognozzi have been working in acti­vist and cul­tu­ral con­texts in Berlin sin­ce 2015. In their artis­tic, rese­arch-based prac­ti­ces, they inves­ti­ga­te the inter­ac­tion of art with gen­tri­fi­ca­ti­on pro­ces­ses and finan­ce-dri­ven infra­struc­tu­ral chan­ge in the con­text of the cli­ma­te cri­sis. Their joint works have been shown at the Berlin pro­ject space sign, CIAT, the Hygiene Museum Dresden, the sta­ti­on urba­ner kul­tu­ren Hellersdorf and in a group exhi­bi­ti­on as part of the One World Romania film fes­ti­val. Together they were invol­ved in the coll­ec­tively cura­ted pro­jects SOFT SOIL and The Driving Factor (nGbK Berlin, 2020/2022).

 

Funding

Logo Stadt Leipzig Kulturamt