Capturing reality with full imagination: The Center for Political Beauty radicalizes the fight for human rights. The Center for Political Beauty is the radical wing of humanism: an assault force for the establishment of moral beauty, political poetry and human grandeur. We fuse the power of imagination with the power of history. Our basic conviction is that the lessons of the Holocaust are nullified by the repetition of political apathy, the rejection of those seeking help and cowardice, and that Germany must not only learn from history, but also act. Remembering means fighting!
We are arming reality with moral imagination and taking on Amnesty International because we believe that the fight for human rights must be fought more radically. It will not be won with hashtags, fairy lights and online petitions, but with imagination. The most useful tool is fiction.
We are the »assault gun of humanism«. The Center for Political Beauty fuses the power of fantasy with the power of history. Our operations crash into German reality at high speed.
Shape the public discourse with illegal humanism by becoming an accomplice of the Center for Political Beauty. Ensure that morality remains a political factor.
We built a Holocaust memorial commemorating 6 million murdered European Jews right in front of Björn Höcke‘s house, called for the overthrow of the dictatorship in the streets of Istanbul (in memory of the Scholl siblings), chased the notorious Dortmund nazis with Kalashnikovs and axes, and chartered an airplane to bring 100 war refugees to Europe alive.
Björn Höcke has praised the Center for Political Beauty as a »terrorist group«. Get close to the action and become an accomplice to a terrorist organization unfortunately recognized so far only by Höcke and Erdogan! As an accomplice you will make an invaluable contribution to inciting public unrest in the service of aggressive humanism. Nowhere else will you receive more unrest and dissent for every donated Euro.
Our guiding concept of aggressive humanism expresses the realization that the fight for human rights is being conducted far too politely - where offensive or illegal action would be legitimate. Aggressive humanism refers to the radical commitment of great human rights activists - the radiant beauty of humanity of Varian Fry, Beate Klarsfeld, Soghomon Tehlirian, Peter Bergson, Frieda Belinfante and Simon Wiesenthal. No question makes humanity as visible as those who rebelled against mass murder - if necessary against their own careers, friends and feelings. The courage to be humane is what makes human beauty possible in the first place.
Essay: Aggressive Humanism - Of democracy’s inability to generate great human rights activists.
Many are convinced that we are exploiting the constitutional protection of art for criminal offenses (blackmailing the German government in “Flüchtlinge fressen”, grand theft in “Erster Europäischer Mauerfall”, overthrowing a democratically elected dictator in “Scholl 2017”, violating the privacy of right-wing radicals). According to this logic, only artists invoke the freedom of art when they want to abuse it.
But: art is not only free as long as it does not make use of its freedom. Why do we guarantee the freedom of art? It is not in the German constitution to protect colorful stainless steel poodles or a Christo from state intervention. The need for protection cannot be seen in such politically dangerous paintings as Monet's grain elevators - but rather in the actions of the Center for Political Beauty. Politically radical art is a direct threat to those in power. In totalitarian regimes, this threat is disguised. In democracies, it is allowed to appear openly. Against the intimidation attempts of prime ministers, against state security and against the violence of the federal government. The question is not whether we abuse artistic freedom - the question is whether Helene Fischer does.
German essay: Die Macht der fünften Gewalt. Über den Miss- und Gebrauch der Kunstfreiheit, in: Monopol 05/2018, S. 50-53.
The theater is dissolved in the auditorium, the debate takes place in the Bundestag. We understand theater as an artistic form - not as an institution. The Center for Political Beauty actions would be unthinkable without the actions of Christoph Schlingensief, “Chance 2000” (1998) and “Ausländer Raus!” (2000), would be unthinkable. At the interface between Beuys and Schlingensief, something new was formed artistically that we are practicing today: the action. The stage, scripts and performances are written by politicians and society itself without further ado. The actions expose the “state theater” and fight our inaction.
German essay: Wir haben das Theater, um nicht an der Wirklichkeit zugrunde zu gehen.
Also: a german conversation at nachtkritik.
Become an accomplice - now, here and now! Our problem is the financing of actions. Become an accomplice in the only - non-profit! - terrorist organization recognized by Björn Höcke and the Free State of Thuringia. - terrorist organization. Support us permanently.
A look behind the scenes: Deutschlandfunk accompanies the creation of an entire campaign. Find out how the Center for Political Beauty uses art to achieve what politics cannot. Who are the people behind the campaign? And how is a campaign planned, carried out and accompanied?
New York Times Migrant’s Funeral in Berlin Highlights Europe’s Refugee Crisis
The Point Aggressive Humanism
The Nation The Art Of Confronting Evil
Art Net Controversial German Art Collective Buries Deceased Migrants in Berlin
Al Jazeera Srebrenica’s lessons for the United Nations
Guardian Art group removes Berlin Wall memorial in border protest
Washington Post To some, the EU’s deadly border is the new Berlin Wall
Widewalls Connecting Art and Activism
frieze Acting up
Cafe Babel In the name of aggressive humanism
Goethe Beautiful politics: The highest form of art?
DW Holocaust survivors demand help for Syrian refugees
Global Post Artists want to save Syria's children by fostering them in German homes
Ha‘aretz Holocaust survivors call on Germany to take in more Syrian refugees
The Local Activists offer cash for info on tank makers
Global Voices Wanted Posters against the Delivery of Tanks
Hurriyet Artists point Kassel's bloody history
Reuters 15 years after the Srebrenica massacre, artists in Germany build 'Pillar of Shame'
DW The Pillar of Shame
Guardian What stands in the way of Bosnia reconciliation
Le Monde Sous la cendre, un artiste allemand adepte de «la beauté politique»
