Part of An Empire, an ongoing research project from Richard Hancock and Litsa Kiousi. It is an exploration of the histories, atrocities, presents and futures of empire building. Through a collaborative dialogue, the artists map the tide of European history, and grapple with the complexity of existence in a modern empire. It is an urgent enquiry into the future of a world balancing on a dangerous brink of repetition.

Germany’s ‘Iron Chancellor’ Otto von Bismarck was historically depicted as a blacksmith, wearing a leather apron, to both represent his strength and falsely present him to the people as a working class hero. In this diptych, a leather apron becomes a stand in for the body, filmed blowing in the wind, while Hancock and Kiousi — both European migrants to Germany —take turns attempting to embody the movement of the apron from memory. Recorded at Alte Münze, a cultural centre and former coin minting facility in Berlin.

Two channel digital video diptych. Dimensions variable. Developed as part of a residency through Raum on Demand, at Alte Münze Berlin.