Hot Potato

KOW presents Hot Potato, a solo exhibition by Candice Breitz. As calls to untether art from politics proliferate in Germany and beyond, Hot Potato traces the historically fraught relationship between artists and the authorities that preside over them – by means of a series of appropriative homages. "It's been a long time since an artist was last swallowed whole by a bear in this city – twenty-two years, to be precise. That was, of course, a very different Berlin: one in which glass cages were still relatively transparent, one not yet shrouded in the fog of Staatsräson. Once upon a time, bears roamed Berlin's commons freely – despite being known, every now and again, to nibble on the hands of those who fed them. Bear traps were few and far between. A bear could bust its moves without fear of being pushed to the city outskirts as a threat to public safety. The sustenance of bears had yet to become contingent on dancing to the tune of their keepers."