Of the Utopian Attempt to Produce Change Together
A Precarious Singspiel by Beate Engl, Leonie Felle and Franka Kaßner

“None for all, nobody for everyone, many and others, each for themselves” That is the conclusion of the shaking/shocking choir of the contemporary Singspiel by Beate Engl, Leonie Felle und Franka Kaßner.
The neologism PREKÄROTOPIA stems from the German words “prekär” (precarious),“Rotation” (rotation) and “Utopie” (utopia) and questions the fundamental definition of solidarity of a community and of an individual. In the system of PREKÄROTOPIA, the three protagonists Speaker, Poupée and Trickster are fluctuating between fragmentation/brokenness and drive, triumph and failure, euphoria and dispair. They are longing for solidary emancipation and participation; however, they are failing.

PREKÄROTOPIA dramaturgically reflects the challenge of solidarity and attitude of global societies, which are existing out of multiple parallel worlds. PREKÄROTOPIA can be seen as a manifesto of action, that even identifies the failure and resignation of Speaker, Poupée and Trickster as an active approach. The artists want to break up hierarchies and start a discussion about political action and responsibility. Even not being political is a highly political action and attitude.
Therefore, the lines from “Mad as Hell”, one of the 13 songs of the musical, sound almost like a vivid prophecy: „Hey you! Listen to me. There is no equality! The only system I can see, is business and economy! Progress, growth and capital, Highspeed neoliberal! Power, money — can’t you see? Everywhere — hierarchy!“

PREKÄROTOPIA is an artwork developed by a collective body and combines sculpture, words, film, music and performance. Besides the live act of the musical, an analytical exhibition with significant content full of visuals can be experienced.
The artists create for PREKÄROTOPIA at the A.K.T; an installation and course universe of sculptures, instruments, costumes, songs and videos and use the objects as props for a modern performance of the Singspiel with 13 self-composed songs from punk, chanson and agit pop. The three heroes Speaker, Poupée and Trickster act between a mobile broiler, the giant hand of capitalism, and a destroyed hierarchy symbolised by a show staircase and an organ that is wired with luminous globes.

PREKÄROTOPIA is fun and serious, ironically ambivalent, conceptional and real, naïve and wise, and is questioning in an absurd but rational way.
PREKÄROTOPIA was premiered in 2019 at the Kunstbau der Städtischen Galerie im Lenbachhaus München and was awarded with the Kunstpreis der Bayerischen Akademie der Schönen Künste.

The exhibition with several movies from PREKÄROTOPIA can be visited virtually from 03.10.2020 at www.akate.de.
Curated by Janusz Czech.

all music videos of PREKÄROTOPIA
Film: Adrian Campean, Hagen Keller, Felix Pflieger, Felix Press // concept and cut: Beate Engl, Leonie Felle, Franka Kaßner Digital 35, 16:9,  41 min.

Sing PREKÄROTOPIA with your friends! 10 songs of PREKÄROTOPIA with lyrics

Beate Engl (*1973, Regen) studied at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste Munich with Prof. Olaf Metzel, at the School of the Arts Institute Chicago and at the Bauhaus University Weimar. She has been Artist in Residence in the USA, India, South Korea and Uganda. In 2009 she was awarded the Artprice for emerging artists of the City of Munich in 2012 the Bavarian State Award (Artprice for emerging artists of the State of Bavaria) and in 2014 working stipend of the foundation Kunstfonds Bonn. Engl works interdisciplinary in public as well as institutional space, her sculptural approach is mostly location-specific. She is involved in various committees in the field of art and building, currently on the commission of the BBK Munich and Bavaria.
http://www.beateengl.de/

Leonie Felle (*1979, Lindenberg in Allgäu) lives and works in Munich. She studied at the Staatliche Fachakademie für Fotodesign Munich and at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich. The artist uses photography, installation, text and sound to develop narrative structures and to create a productive tension between the individual elements. Felle has shown her works in numerous exhibitions in Germany and abroad, such as the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus / Kunstbau and the Haus der Kunst in Munich, Halle 14 in Leipzig, the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, and the Fei Contemporary Art Center, Shanghai. Under the name “Leonie singt” Felle has also been performing with Jakob Egenrieder (bass), Hagen Keller (guitar and accordion) and Sascha Schwegeler (drums) since 2009.
https://www.leonie-felle.de/

Franka Kaßner (*1976 in Oschatz) is a German sculptor, she lives and works in Leipzig and Munich. Kaßner completed an apprenticeship as a wood sculptor in Berchtesgaden. Afterwards she studied sculpture with Olaf Metzel at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich (master student). In her work she combines painting, movement, music, text, installation and performance into sculpture. A main focus of her artistic work is the critical reflection of our collective memory as the scene and place of negotiation of private and public ideas of identity and the social construction of identity. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally in numerous exhibitions, such as in the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, in the Dommuseum zu Salzburg, the Kunsthalle Bremen or the Deutsches Theater in Timişoara, Romania. She has received, among others, the Amerika Stipendium from the Free State of Bavaria, a working scholarship from the Stiftung Kunstfonds, and the Lothar-Späth-Prize.
https://www.galeriechristinemayer.de/artists/franka-kassner/

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