TELESHOPPING MIT THOMAS BARTLING

In the organizer's words:

The performance that takes consumption to the absurd in a critical and affirmative way

In this performance, Thomas Bartling sells 60 objects from art, culture and beyond. Publications, art artifacts, as well as disused props and costume pieces will be auctioned off for as little as one symbolic euro. Junk and junk change hands, as do true rarities and unique pieces.

The TV show Tele-Boutique was the first sales program on German television. In anti-ironic affirmation, we raise the camp of the sales channels. The pricing of goods is the only content of the shows on HSE24 or QVC and does not follow any recognizable dramaturgy. Goods are offered for sale for hours - without any further content. The non-stop talking becomes a mass of sound. It is a physical exertion for both the sales staff and the audience. All of this can be understood in a broader sense as durational body art performance. This art form was developed 50 years ago as a feminist statement by artists who were primarily seen as female: The artists' bodies are exposed to the audience under certain conditions, which contributed to the self-empowerment of the performers. The specific aim here is to initiate a durational performance that gains its aesthetic power from its progressive duration. How long can the linguistic praise of products be endured before the process or the observation changes? How long does it take to sell 60 objects? We'll find out!

NIMM PLATZ am Neumarkt is a joint project of Cologne's cultural administration and the independent cultural scene, with contributions from the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz (HfMT) and the Kunsthochschule für Medien (KHM).