Enclosures
Digital video, 21’, 2019
“Enclosures” questions the meaning and influence of certain buzzwords prominent in global academic-creative circles from the perspective of queer men who live in Chinese metropolises. Based on mining various planetary phenomena through personal narratives, the video features intimate interviews interspersed with imagery of capitalist societies that liken the structural and technological with the behavioural, as well looking at capital’s and patriarchy’s roles in nation and identity building.
Cultural institutions often claim to represent society even if many of the terms they use are not comprehensible to a large section of the population. “Enclosures” highlights two bubbles we might live in: the culture sector bubble and the western bubble. Social media contributing towards an echo chamber effect in opinion making may be a myth but how does that play out across cultures?
For this film I interviewed seven locals in Beijing and Shanghai whom he met via dating apps. They answered the same questions on a range of topics from love life, to late-capitalism and anthropocene, detailing their first memories of these terms. At at time when capitalism offers global solutions in the form of ubiquitous products, what subjectivities prevail?
This video work is part of the Bundeskunstsammlung, Art Collection of the Federal German State
