KOWTALK: Candice Breitz in conversation with Antonia Alampi

To imagine that art can float autonomously above the immediate and broader contexts in which it is embedded – remote from the pedestrian grime of social and political life – is akin to insisting that humanity’s darkest moments can be understood independently of the historical events that preceded and have followed them.

Hot Potato traces the historically fraught relationship between artists and the authorities that preside over them – by means of a series of appropriative homages. In the conversation, Antonia Alampi and Candice Breitz will be discussing the Dear Esther films and others works in the exhibition.

The conversation will be held in English. Attendance is free.

Candice Breitz (born in Johannesburg, 1972) is a Berlin-based artist. Her moving image installations have been shown internationally. Throughout Breitz’s career, she has explored the dynamics by means of which an individual becomes him or herself in relation to a larger community, be that the immediate community that one encounters in family, or the real and imagined communities that are shaped not only by questions of national belonging, race, gender and religion, but also by the increasingly undeniable influence of mainstream media such as television, cinema and other popular culture.

Antonia Alampi is a curator and cultural organizer. Since 2021, she is the founding Artistic Director of Spore Initiative in Berlin. Her work moves between exhibitions, public and educational programs, and long-term collaborations with practitioners from different fields. She previously served as Artistic Co-Director of SAVVY Contemporary in Berlin (2016–2020), was part of the curatorial team of sonsbeek20→24, and held curatorial positions at Extra City Kunsthal in Antwerp (2017–2019) and Beirut in Cairo (2012–2015). She also co-founded collaborative initiatives such as Future Climates and Toxic Commons, bringing together cultural practitioners and scientists to address injustices and the politics of toxicity. Across these contexts, her work explores how cultural institutions can be shaped as spaces for collective learning, eco-social practices, and the slow work of repairing cultural relations.