Manifesta purposely strives to keep its distance from what are often seen as the dominant centres of artistic production, instead seeking fresh and fertile terrain for the mapping of a new cultural topography.

Guy Ben-Ner, IL

Guy Ben Ner, Surplus Leisure, 2014 © Manifesta 10 / xxx

Installation at Voronikhin Square Garden

During Manifesta 10 the Israeli artist Guy Ben Ner erected a cabin in Kazanskaya Street to house his installation. Exercise equipment from a nearby fitness studio generated electricity that powered the projection of a speech by Arnold Schwarzenegger on bodybuilding and the free market economy. The idea was that the installation, drawing on Marx’s concept of surplus labour, behaved like a parasite, deriving power from other people’s “labour time.”