Originally invited to conceptualize the festival centre of this year’s Balance Festival, Aleen Solari transforms her artistic work, which deals with symbols and dilemmas of political alliances, identity-creating authenticities and social peer groups, into two artistic merchandise articles that she takes out of the club and onto the street. Esoteric ideologies of obfuscation that as defined by ones one “feel-good” trivialize given inequalities and racisms in our society as fateful or simply accept them as commonplace are spreading just as fast as identitarian and anti-semitic associations. From an anti-fascist standpoint, Aleen Solari therefore rather suggests using esotericism as a “soft weapon” in a common resistance against these movements. Yoga, self-care or closeness to nature should not implicate a depoliticized retreat into the private sphere, but should form an alliance in the fight against right-wing extremism. Because: Karma fights back!

During the festival there is the possibility to purchase two different works by Aleen Solari. Her shirt “AFA” or the Harness Artist Edition “Crystal”. Fun-Fact: The amethyst in “Crystal” is said to protect against drunkenness and promote mental alertness. Try it out yourself on your next visit to the club!

Aleen Solari (*1980, in Bielefeld) lives and works in Hamburg, where she was a visiting professor for sculpture at the Hochschule für bildende Künste (HFBK) in 2019. In recent years she has received numerous awards and scholarships from the ZEIT Foundation (2019), Chateau Millemont (2018) and the City of Hamburg (2019, 2017), among others. Her works are shown in renowned institutions, most recently in the Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof, the KV – Verein für zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig (both 2019), in the Hamburger Kunsthalle, the Kunstverein Dortmund, the Neues Museum Nuremberg (all 2018) and the Falckenberg Collection, Deichtorhallen (2017).

How To
Get It

“Crystal”— Harness-Artist-Edition, every necklace is an original. Chrome, silver, untreated amethyst