Substance of Power

Substance of Power is Gosia Lehmann and Valerian Blos’s ongoing artistic research, examining the relationship between chemical substances and different forms of domination. The starting point of the work is the story of the ancient Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang who swallowed an elixir of quicksilver (mercury) given to him by his court alchemists and physicians in a bid to become immortal. However, instead of achieving eternal life, it is said that the emperor fell into paranoid-depressive states caused by mercury poisoning, leading to disastrously bad decisions that influenced the fate of the entire empire.

The projected was first presented at Hošek Contemporary 2023 and activated by a diner-performance.

In a dimmed space, a lavish banquet is being prepared. Under soft red lights, miniatures of historical artefacts are presented next to neuron-shaped ceramic dishes and cutlery. Some of the objects are void-black, sucking in all the light, while others are of alluring silver.
The banquet table is covered by piles of vermillion-red sand and cracking salt. Architectural elements representing power are slowly crumbling over the course of the Dinner. Glossy ceramic ‘Loose Lips’ placed on crystal platters are whispering the table gossip and rumours.

2024 a new episode was added to the research and presented in three evening during the Discarding Programm at HKW Berlin. The audience was invited to taste the bitter truth behind late-stage technological consumerism and capitalist consumption cycles. The performative offerings explored a different contemporary ‘substance of power’ each evening, and invited participants to contemplate—and directly experience—how they end up in our own ‘fleshy hardware,’ namely our bodies.

With contributions from:

Andy King, Theresa Reimann-Dubbers, Matias Loikala, Gabriel Kleber, Maryna Makarenko, Cristina Negucioiu, Shu-hua Chang, Jasmin Parsley

Images:
Gosia Lehmann, Maria Vass, Shu-hua Chang, Justus Lemm, Valerian Blos, Gassauer