Etwas zwischen uns / Something between us, Ausstellungsansichten / exhibition views, Johanna Maj Schmidt, 15.3.-29.6.25, GfZK – Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig, Fotos / photos: Alexandra Ivanciu
WE MUST BE MISTAKEN
4-channel installation, loop, 49'17'', 2022
We Must Be Mistaken is a performative four-channel video installation about echo chambers and gender relations in online spheres. The audience moves back and forth between two filter bubbles, delineated by a dividing wall. The work captures the growing rift between diverging patterns of desire, amplified by algorithmic logic.
While a group of young feminists yearn for equality and voice their anger at patriarchal structures, two incels (involuntary celibates) affiliated with the MAGA movement share cynical internet memes in defense of “free speech” and their own notions of masculinity. A conflict unfolds across the boundaries of both echo chambers – without the characters ever directly encountering one another.
In We Must Be Mistaken, I bring together performative works I have created in various constellations over the years with my current research on far-right “meme warriors,” in dialogue with texts by feminist writer friends. The performers contribute their own entanglements with the topic to the development of the (sometimes exaggerated) characters.
For example, the role of a feminist scholar is embodied by U.S.-American linguistic anthropologist Dr. Catherine Tebaldi, who studies “Tradwives”— right-wing conservative vloggers. While she initially appears as an expert presenting her research, she eventually reveals a more vulnerable side, delivering a personal monologue about her unfulfilled longing for intimacy.
I created We Must Be Mistaken in collaboration with Charlotte Ruppert (co-director & - writer), Jan-Luca Ott (production manager), and many other artist and writer friends and acquaintances from Leipzig, New York City, and London.