todestrieb [death drive]
Generation & Display, London, UK
🖇️ todestrieb, saliva.live
Featured artists:
Deividas Vytautas + Gloria Viktoria
Harry Hugo-Little
Jack Kennedy
David Shamie
Wenzhe Li
What is wrong with our desire for health and a flawless, beautiful body?
The concept of the death drive, as introduced by Freud in ‘Beyond The Pleasure Principle’ in 1920, partially answers the question if we consider it in the context of the neoliberal world order. As an innate, destructive instinct, death drive works to restore the living organism into its primordial, inorganic state. According to Freud this distinctive instinct of destruction is tangential with the forces of libido. In his seminal work built around this concept, Byung-Chul Han observed that late capitalism, in its essence, distracts from any kind of negativity, such as pain or ugliness, in favour of the positivity of wish fulfilment. At the same time, the imminent fear of death is what spurs the individual within the system, allowing for its accelerated proliferation. What is, therefore, at stake is a mental collapse initiated by this displacement and corresponding relentless self-exploitation.
‘Todestrieb’ pays homage to Freud's formulation of this idea through an examination of the practices of Jack Kennedy, Deividas Vytautas + Gloria Viktoria, Harry Hugo-Little, David Shamie and Weznhe Li, which touch upon desire, destruction, mental issues, violence and labour. Each artist unpacks the notion of 'death drive' in their individual way while reflecting on the broader spectrum of contingent issues this speculative idea generates.
Performances:
‘Sunday’ by Deividas Vytautas + Gloria Viktoria
‘Feeds Back Loop’ by Chaney Diao
‘BEACON’ by David Varhegyi
Exhibition Text + Floor Plan
Installation view of todestrieb [death drive], 2024. Generation & Display, London, UK. Courtesy Generation & Display. Photographed by Amelie McKee.
Installation view of todestrieb [death drive], 2024. Generation & Display, London, UK. Courtesy Generation & Display. Photographed by Amelie McKee.
Installation view of todestrieb [death drive], 2024. Generation & Display, London, UK. Courtesy Generation & Display. Photographed by Amelie McKee.
Harry Hugo-Little, ‘Kiss2’, 2024. Oil on board, 117x98 cm. Courtesy the artist and Generation & Display. Photographed by Amelie McKee.
Harry Hugo-Little, ‘1ntestines’, 2024. Oil on board, 60x51 cm. Courtesy the artist and Generation & Display. Photographed by Amelie McKee.
Harry Hugo-Little, ‘Spike1’, 2024. Oil on board, 30x30 cm. Courtesy the artist and Generation & Display. Photographed by Amelie McKee.
Eelbergine (Wenzhe Li), ‘Is that a tentacle in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?’, 2024. Bitumen (flammable), silicone, GG4, stainless steel, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist and Generation & Display. Photographed by Amelie McKee.
Eelbergine (Wenzhe Li), ‘Stallion Chav’, 2024. Bitumen (flammable), brass plated horse hames, collars, rubber, silicone, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist and Generation & Display. Photographed by Amelie McKee.
Eelbergine (Wenzhe Li), ‘Stallion Chav’ and ‘Is that a tentacle in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?’, 2024. Courtesy the artist and Generation & Display. Photographed by Amelie McKee.
Jack Kennedy, ‘Untitled (Psychic Warfare)’, 2024. Plywood, wood stain, yacht varnish, t-shirts, lined paper, inkjet print, welded steel frame, soil, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist and Generation & Display. Photographed by Amelie McKee.
David Shamie, ‘Contract and Ritual (Stone Grey and Blush Pink)’, 2024. Laser-cut frosted acrylic, 150x30x30 cm. Courtesy the artist and Generation & Display. Photographed by Amelie McKee.
Deividas Vytautas + Gloria Viktoria, ‘Sunday’, 2024. Phone mount, tripods, chalk, Evian water bottles, TV monitor, video. Dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist and Generation & Display. Photographed by Amelie McKee.