The exceptional thing about an accomplice is, that you first and foremost have to recognise them as such. You don’t search for one; you simply find that you have one. The onset of complicity cannot be planned; at the beginning there is no decision; there is no strategy. In the uncertain and the unspoken, you become entangled in a shared attitude or a common idea. It has to be something akin to a conviction, which you are both determined to follow together. Mutual trust is the foundation of complicity. For every idea, for every purpose, you can find different accomplices. Complicity itself may at any time transform or flux with other social contexts. Mutual friendship is possible, without being a premise for complicity, and the transition to firmer structures of collective work is conceivable at all times. Being able to switch roles within different complicities and thus having the possibility to see accomplices acting in different roles, deepens and liberates collaboration. Whilst radiating enthusiasm and facing projects that are, in the truest sense, insane – that‘s something I know I can‘t do alone. The alliance in the undetermined frees unsuspecting strengths, because within it, one calls themselves into question and mutually reinforces, remaining constantly in motion.

PUBLISHER Kulturbehörde der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg I Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof TEXTS Helena Wittmann I Theresa George I Luise Donschen I Adnan Softic I Nika Breithaupt I Olaf Möller TRANSLATION Michael James Jackson I Lulu MacDonald COPYRIGHT Helena Wittmann I Kulturbehörde der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg I Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof PRODUCTION Druckerei in St. Pauli

35. HAMBURGER ARBEITSSTIPENDIEN FÜR BILDENDE KUNST 2015