Space Demand or What is Fascism?
The new fascism explains with a reserved smile, wise gestures and scientific expertise the special advantages of lawlessness.
15-part work about the current pain, Cologne in February to June 2022
Hardly anyone today can describe what fascism actually is. In public debates, whether in the media or at demonstrations, people keep accusing each other of being fascists or Nazis. A lot of things get mixed up. The characteristics or features of fascism are blurred in the public perception.
All the more frequently the question arises: what actually is fascism?
Umberto Eco described the basic characteristics of primeval fascism in its various manifestations of totalitarian, Nazi and autocratic systems. Where democracy fails or begins to fail, primordial fascist characteristics or archetypes can be observed. These, if allowed to remain, ultimately lead to political systems characterised by their vertical hierarchy of power.
And as Zeev Sternhell says: "It (fascism) is a permanent threat to liberal democracy and to social democracy, both of which are rooted in the spirit of the Enlightenment. It is a dormant phenomenon: in times of peace and prosperity, its existence is not felt..."
In my new series "Raumforderung" I link the 14 characteristics of primal fascism named by Umberto Eco with my - naturally subjective - observations of the new modern manifestations of fascism that can be found, partly commented by me, in the social networks and media.
The images accompanying the statements within the series are interchangeable and have only one message: Pain.
Or in short: My understanding of fascists and fascistoid systems is zero.
My approximate translations of the 14 characteristics from the German "Umberto Eco - Der ewige Faschismus" page 35-38 (I am grateful for corrections).
1 Cult of tradition | 2 Traditionalism | 3 Irrationalism | 4 Syncretistic faith | 5 Fear of the different | 6 Appeal to the frustrated | 7 Nationalisms | 8 Too strong and too weak | 9 Collaboration with the enemy | 10 Elitism | 11 Heroism | 12 Machismo | 13 Selective populism | 14 Newspeak
Artist Newspaper (right side) #4, Raumforderung, 24 pages, Edition of 20, German language, Cologne 2022