painted and welded steel, aluminum, steel cables and rigging, hardware, painted floor, spot lights
16’ x 12’ x 12’
Western Agenda
Artist Space
New York City
Curated by Connie Butler
Participating artists include Deborah Garwood, Ava Gerber, Page Houser, Rita McBride, John Monti, David Schafer
The context of this project was just after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 and the westernization to capitalize and democratize eastern Europe. The idea of the state as an apparatus of capture is from A Thousand Plateaus, Deleuze and Guattari and their concept of the state apparatus as a megamachine, an organized, hierarchical system designed to capture flows of people, desire, and money. Eastern European countries rapidly transitioned from communist one-party states to multi-party democracies. These nations also embraced capitalism, through economic reforms by privatizing state industries, removing price controls, and integrating into global markets.