„Does this seem like a desert to you?“
Election campaigning meets reality

A collaborative essay by Volker Crone & Rafael Heygster 

„Does this seem like a desert to you?“ tries to examine the mood of society in Germany prior to the federal election. In the midst of a climate crisis, a global pandemic, and neoliberal turbo-capitalism, after the hard phase of the lockdowns and before the election of the new Government, we took a distant look at the social performances of different people of the society in Germany.
Is there still something like a national identity? And if so, can a society be in a specific mood? Or is any collective identity a mere construction that is actually made up of a vast number of different realities that take place simultaneously but hardly overlap?
We all are basically striving for similar things: personal success, a meaningful life, and a better future. But the idea of how to achieve these values is where we differ. All the individuals photographed have one thing in common: they act according to learned patterns of performative behavior, but circumstances have changed in such a way that they might question the adequacy of these social patterns. Our pictures intend to encourage the viewers to ask themselves: How do we want to live together as a society? Can climate protection and a society based on equality work together with capitalism? What do we want for the next generations and the future of this planet?

„Does this seem like a desert to you?“
Election campaigning meets reality

A collaborative essay by Volker Crone & Rafael Heygster 

„Does this seem like a desert to you?“ tries to examine the mood of society in Germany prior to the federal election. In the midst of a climate crisis, a global pandemic, and neoliberal turbo-capitalism, after the hard phase of the lockdowns and before the election of the new Government, we took a distant look at the social performances of different people of the society in Germany.
Is there still something like a national identity? And if so, can a society be in a specific mood? Or is any collective identity a mere construction that is actually made up of a vast number of different realities that take place simultaneously but hardly overlap?
We all are basically striving for similar things: personal success, a meaningful life, and a better future. But the idea of how to achieve these values is where we differ. All the individuals photographed have one thing in common: they act according to learned patterns of performative behavior, but circumstances have changed in such a way that they might question the adequacy of these social patterns. Our pictures intend to encourage the viewers to ask themselves: How do we want to live together as a society? Can climate protection and a society based on equality work together with capitalism? What do we want for the next generations and the future of this planet?