Debt in Venice: German Pavilion Artists Show Support for Greece

(screenshot of Hito Steyerl’s photo on Facebook) (click to enlarge)

In response to the German government’s insistence on imposing austerity measures on Greece, the artists representing Germany at this year’s Venice Biennale have made a simple but powerful statement in support of the debt-ridden nation. As Hito Steyerl shared in a photo posted to Facebook, she and a number of artists and Biennale employees hung a Greek flag emblazoned with the word “GERMONEY” in red over the word “Germania” on the façade of the German pavilion in Venice’s Giardini to protest austerity. As per her post:

Today, the artists of the German Pavilion and a number of the workers of the 56th Venice Biennial covered the Germania sign on the pavilion with a Greek flag and the word “Germoney.” We show our solidarity with the people in Greece and all other places suffering from austerity. As cultural workers and artists we demand an end to austerity for health, culture, and education while public funding for banks and oligarchs seems unlimited.
#AusterityKills, #CancelGreekdebt, #Germoney

Below, Steyerl named the artists who signed the statement, commenting on her post — Julia Akimova, Teresa Bauer, Tim Bitten, Matteo Binci, Anna Böckers, Marco Carrino, Jacopo David, Antonia Deckert, Alexander Deubl, Davide Giacometti, Franke Helbig, Kim Eun Jeong, Christian Kliem, Corinne Mazzoli, Jasmina Metwaly, Anja Predeick Luca Pili, Philip Rizk, Konstantin Landuris, Olaf Nicolai, Michela Solinas, Steyerl, and Tobias Zielony. Hyperallergic reached out to the pavilion’s organizers for comment on the artists’ gesture of solidarity toward Greece, but has received no response.

The action comes in the wake of another recent protest by activists representing Global Justice Now and Jubilee Debt Campaign, who projected images of German Chancellor Angela Merkel between the words “CANCEL GREEK DEBT” on the German embassy in London.

(photo by via @tobiaszielony/Instagram)