March 8 till April 13, 2008

“Concert for a raised fist” is a musical recording of the Ozenki choir, a small chamber concert typical to the Basque region for eight different voices: first and second tenor, baritone and bass. Juan Pérez Agirregoikoa asked the choir to sing a selection of French materialist philosophy texts to the melodies of four popular Spanish, Basque and German songs.

Drawing from texts by Guy Lardreau, Jacques Fradin, Gilles Grelet and Jacques Lacan, themes for the songs include materialism, transfer of libidinous energy in the economy, commerce as a matrix of inner gestalt and revolution.

Further comment for “Concert for a raised fist” is provided in the form of three posters with key statements by Gilles Grelet and Hugues Choplin on theory, institutions and a drawing by Pérez Agirregoikoa on the subject of spirituality.

Rounding off Juan Pérez Agirregoikoa’s first solo exhibition in Germany are watercolors depicting various protest poses. The different voices merge to form a single, comprehensive protest song. Protest is central to Pérez Agirregoikoa’s understanding of life. After distancing ourselves from our parents’ views, we follow new role models only to reject these as well, always slipping back into the same pattern.

1000 copies of the original concert video shown at Clages are available free of charge as a concert DVD, along with a packet that includes placards, a poster and political fliers. In this way, Pérez Agirregoikoa’s project, which was supported by public funds from Spain, can be redistributed elsewhere.

Clages