The Future Behind Us | Ep. #3: How Much is Your Democracy Worth? [w/ UBERMORGEN]

In 2000, during the presidential race between George Bush and Al Gore, a group of “Maverick Austrian Business People” launched a platform that gave US voters the possibility to auction off their votes to bidders on the internet. Thirteen US states attempted to shut down the project with temporary restraining orders and injunctions. The media circus around the project was mind-boggling. As for the maverick business people behind the scandalous proposal, they were not entrepreneurs, they were artists: Liz Haas and Lúzius Bernhard from UBERMORGEN. Their artistic intervention went viral long before “becoming viral” was part of our vocabulary. What does this say about the enduring confusion between fact and fiction, the opacity of democratic institutions under capitalism and the ease with which a duo of provocateurs can manipulate the attention of the mass media?

COLOPHON

Host: Régine Debatty
Guest: UBERMORGEN

Recording: Régine Debatty
Music, editing and audio mix: Gašper Torkar

The Future Behind Us podcast series

Curated by: Régine Debatty
Coordinated by: Janez Fakin Janša

Produced by: Marcela Okretič

Production:
Aksioma | Institute for Contemporary Art Ljubljana, 2024

Part of:
PXXP•XXV: Speculation and Decay

Conceived and co-organised by:
Aksioma

For:
Pixxelpoint – 25^th International Festival of Contemporary Art Practices

Produced and co-organised by:
Nova Gorica Arts Centre

In the framework of:
GO! 2025 – European Capital of Culture, Nova Gorica 2025

Supported by:
the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the Municipality of Nova Gorica