Duration: October 15 – December 3, 2023

NAK Neuer Aachener Kunstverein is pleased to present Fine people on both sides, and me. the first institutional solo exhibition by the artist Jody Korbach.

Lars Eidinger just wanted to understand the world for a moment. The hatred that he experienced brought tears to his eyes, and so he anxiously nibbled at the unpainted nail of his index finger in front of the assembled film press until appreciative clapping relieved him of his abject dismay at the general circumstance. A timid smile by the stage star. Followed later by the gloating of the others.

The man, who just a few weeks earlier had posed with an Aldi-inspired luxury handbag in front of a camp of sleeping homeless people, had thus come to recognise his own inadequacy. But anyone who, from their ivory tower, feels the pain of those worse-off than them, has to position themselves on the right side of history without encouragement.

Jody Korbach captured the scene in a watercolor – emblematic of all those moments in which people take a stand, in which they bring the synthesis of their self-reflection, still unpolished, to the outside world, and which are used as key moments for evaluating past and future actions. Sure, it was a stupid appearance by Eidinger, but is empathy to be denied in advance, even if he still has to provide proof of solidarity? Would Korbach have done better? Does she do it better?

With her exhibition Fine people on both sides, and me. at NAK Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Korbach probes the implications of her own position on the political spectrum. She has always been left-wing, but not so left-wing that she would have stuffed a potato into the muffler of some fancy car during her youth. Now she’d like to punch someone in the face. Or thinks she should punch someone in the face. Or thinks she should want to punch someone in the face. Although actually she would like to have some peace and quiet.

“I imagine it would be satisfying to put someone in hospital…” In any case, the fantasy is already fixed for Korbach. Maybe it’s a matter of prophylactically hurting the political Right before they continue to harm those they don’t want to acknowledge as human beings. Maybe a few burning SUVs are the signal needed to mobilize a vocal majority for the class struggle. Maybe you have to have tried violence before you can categorically reject it.