FORT
Fort Hatchery Works

Dec 2nd – 11th, 2010
FHW district heating plant Berlin-Neukölln in cooperation with KW Institute for Contemporary Art Berlin

Copyright KW Institute for Contemporary Art Berlin; FORT; Photo René Arnold
Copyright KW Institute for Contemporary Art Berlin; FORT; Photo René Arnold
Copyright KW Institute for Contemporary Art Berlin; FORT; Photo René Arnold
Copyright KW Institute for Contemporary Art Berlin; FORT; Photo René Arnold
Copyright KW Institute for Contemporary Art Berlin; FORT; Photo René Arnold
Copyright KW Institute for Contemporary Art Berlin; FORT; Photo René Arnold

FHW - FORT HATCHERY WORKS took place in December 2010 in the district heating plant FHW Neukölln AG in Berlin. It was sponsored by Stiftung Kunstfonds in cooperation with Kunstwerke Berlin. For the duration of six days, FORT HATCHERY WORKS operated within the working power station creating a parallel production line which ambiguously blured the border between regular work and performative and installative actions. Groups of visitors met at the power plant's gate and were guided through the different areas, real and invented. They witnessed the production process that at times appeared logical at others partially absurd, magical or even surreal.

FORT's interventions circle around a magical product entitled T3. It's a handcrafted additive that, through a long laborious process, is added to the coal in order to insure a more efficient combustion process in the furnaces of the plant. During the guided tour visitors also pass by different production stages of T3. In the end, T3, as already hinted in the title of the project, is nothing else than carefully crafted and hand polished pieces of coal in the form of an egg which finds it's destination in the incineration chamber of the boilerhouse along with the daily amount of coal chunks burnt there. At the core of the T3 production are monotonous synchronous human action sequences, as significant in any industrial production rhythm, that appear to be time warps of a singular recurring motif. By paralleling artistic and industrial production FHW looks at the limitations of both processes. The manufacture of the product becomes an essential part of the artistic work and is equal to the product, even the factory itself becomes part of the artistic work. On the surface, FHW imitates the processes and routines. However, on closer inspection, these are broken and transformed. The simultaneity of constructed and everyday elements marks a point where fiction and reality, truth and claim merge with each other and lose their clearly defined boundaries, leaving us with the concern of a sense that flees from the epitome of it's own countenance.

Christian Siekmeier

About FORT

FORT consists of Alberta Niemann and Jenny Kropp. Since 2008 they create installations, performances and video installations (until 2013 with Anna Jandt).

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