„Mad As Hell Bank (MAHB)”
space installation, 2021

A "bank room" was installed for the duration of the exhibition. The installation consists primarily of the ornament as logo, coins and notes. Protest signs take over the function of advertising posters.

The content of the work MAHB refers to the film "Network" by Sidney Lumet from 1976. The quotes used in the work, among others from the film character Howard Beal, and the ornament are set pieces from the film. The emblem of the so-called "Mad As Hell Show" used in the film will be used in the context of the work as the logo of the commercial bank MAHB. The bank's coins and notes will also be characterised by this ornament.

Inequitable distribution of wealth, polarisation as a result of growing dissatisfaction of large parts of the population are thematised and even though the film is already more than 45 years old, it describes very accurately a scenario of our time: feelings of fear, home office and on the other side a growing anger of those who do not find themselves in this society.

The MAHB alternative currency is accordingly oriented towards the fundamental dissatisfaction of its potential users and is thus performance-based. It is issued like our current credit money, as a demand for consideration.

Sven Kalden was born in Kassel and lives in Berlin. He studies free art and sculpture at the Weißensee School of Art and currently works as a freelance artist. For over 10 years he was an academic assistant at the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning at the Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus-Senftenberg. Since 1996, he has regularly participated in exhibitions at home and abroad and developed projects for public spaces. Stations were, for example, Vienna, Berlin, Speyer and Daegu (Korea). In his works, Kalden deals with visual set pieces of contemporary crises, conflicts and power structures. Found footage and media clichés serve as means that are filtered and placed in a new context.

www.sven-kalden.de