CATCH 22 – Damned if I do, Damned if I don’t

mixed media installation, 2008 at .CHB/ .HBC, Berlin
category: Zonographic Society/ Materialisations

Etymology:
from Catch-22, paradoxical rule in the novel Catch-22 (1961) by Joseph Heller Date: 1971 1: a problematic situation for which the only solution is denied by a circumstance inherent in the problem or by a rule (the show-business catch–22—no work unless you have an agent, no agent unless you‘ve worked — Mary Murphy);
also : the circumstance or rule that denies a solution 2 a: an illogical, unreasonable, or senseless situation b: a measure or policy whose effect is the opposite of what was intended c : a situation presenting two equally undesirable alternatives 3: a hidden difficulty or means of entrapment: catch
Merriam Webster Online Dictionary

Catch 22 is a reprise of the work that was arranged with the Zonographic Society for „Wait and Seek“ with a bit of a twist (hence the title). It was configured for a one week show celebrating the opening of a new party/art space at the former space of the Hungarian cultural institute in Berlin (east) which particulary during the last years of the GDR provided a meeting space for people with different opinions. The installation plays on the meaning of the title and invokes the novel which, among other things can be viewed as a general critique of bureaucratic operation and reasoning crushing the individual with absurdity.
Guided Tours were offered.