Photos: The artists / The House of St Barnabas (Brian Whar and Ilona Wolff).

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What One Can Be…

Jeremy Deller, Merike Estna, Marlene Haring, Jennifer Reid, Rafal Zajko.

Moving Images, Shifting Needs

Mauricio Alejo, Greta Alfaro, Jorge Galindo, Ian Giles, Marco Godoy, Matthias Tharang, Fernando Sanchez Castillo, Santiago Sierra, Hito Steyerl, Harry Meadows, Txema Novelo.

The House of St Barnabas, London

1 Greek Street, Soho Square, 21-27 September 2015

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This project aimed to connect temporality and human potential by problematising the linearity, hierarchical arrangement, and progressive idea that individuals can reach ‘self-fulfilment’ as a process of satisfying a pyramid of needs. It included a series of screenings, talks, workshops, and performances by international artists, in the context of domestic interiors and spiritual spaces of the historic building of St. Barnabas and its chapel.

This programme was a response to a brief given by the organisation, which was focused on Abraham Maslow’s theory of human potential and his pyramid of human needs. In 1943 Abraham Maslow proposed his theory on the hierarchy of needs in A Theory of Human Motivation. In this paper, he states that human needs are arranged in hierarchies of pre-potency, meaning that the appearance of one need usually rests on the prior satisfaction of another more pre-potent need. ‘What one can be, one must be’ is a quote by the author, who states that every person is capable and has the desire to move towards the higher level in the order of human needs.

The programme intended to subvert the hierarchy of his pyramid. With the intention to problematise the idea of escalating a progressive structure, the aim was to explore the fluctuation and cases of exception and reversal within the order of human needs: spontaneity coexisting with the need of shelter, creativity influencing the security of the body, morality squatting our sleep. Jeremy Deller, Merike Estna, Marlene Haring, Jennifer Reid , and Rafal Zajko were part of the public programme, which was carried out in different places in the house.

The screening programme was called Moving Images, Shifting Needs; it included videos by Greta Alfaro, Ian Giles, Marco Godoy, Matthias Tharang , Fernando Sanchez Castillo, Santiago Sierra and Jorge Galindo, Hito Steyerl, Harry Meadows, and Txema Novelo, which were screened in the chapel.

The videos, performances, workshops, and interventions staged and displayed the fragility of human experience and its vulnerability as a non-hierarchical and non-progressive condition. With a mix of wit, rawness, and playfulness, they pointed out different creative ways and artistic strategies by which human beings seek protection, shelter, and affection.

This project included a screening by Matt Carter in association with LUX.

Supported by Arts Council of England and the Austrian Cultural Forum, London.

Special thanks to Galería Helga de Alvear, Galería Juana de Aizpuru, The Modern Institute, Andrew Kreps Gallery .