Human beings are the only known animals that devote much time and attention to non-beings. Much of our reality is constructed by language, imagination, performance, and by the (usually tacit) social contract. Such non-beings as nations, money, debts, political parties, taxes, territorial boundaries, nationality, ethnicity, or other identities exist only because we collectively believe and act as if they do exist. Philosophy and social science debate and describe the nature of such phenomena. Law, politics, and ethics should reflect on their normative aspects. Art, on the other hand, can offer and experiment with alternatives.

Michael Kurzwelly's art projects are precisely such experiments that explore and challenge the arbitrary, imaginary, and constructed nature of our social reality. Since our social reality is constructed, according to Kurzwelly, it can just as well be de- and reconstructed. The alternative realities of New Amerika and Słubfurt turn upside down many of our fundamental assumptions about society, politics, and identity.

participants: Jonatan Kurzwelly, Michael Kurzwelly

introduction: Marek Wasilewski