Rattenschwanz (Monument Against Bureaucracy)

Taking the ubiquitous Aktenordner and a popular German idiom about convoluted social and political issues as its point of departure, this participatory installation consists of a horde of rodent-like robots that are set loose in the exhibition space. Somewhere between pets and pests, this colony of semi-autonomous Aktenordner is offered as a humorous intervention and decentralized monument against bureaucracy. By reanimating these recycled folders Rattenschwanz suggests the ways in which bureaucracy creeps into our private lives and spaces, and the ever-present potential for discrimination and abuses of power.

Many of the assemblers of the robots and caretaker-performers in this project are participants in S27- Kunst und Bildung’s creative workshops for young refugees and migrants. S27 is an art laboratory for young people who want to change the world.

A special thanks to Manuel Strube (Technical Assistance).