More than 250 years ago, Jean-Jacques Rousseau described that fatal moment when the first man fenced in a piece of land so as to declare it his property. For Rousseau an impermissible act, as “the Earth [itself belongs] to nobody”. But still the belief in property has started innumerable wars and crimes.
In keeping with the leitmotif of the steirischer herbst festival, < rotor > examines the loss of solidarity and territorial clashes – both from an individual and collective angle. On show are not only works that deal with the (self-elected) withdrawal of individuals or groups from our consumerist world. Also featured are works that talk about those regions of the world in which land grab and territorial exclusion are still common currency – reflecting a collective impotence in the face of existing, often postcolonial power relations founded on exploitation that allow the population no means of sharing in the wealth.