Alicia Framis

Karriere Grant

In common with other of Karriere’s artists, Alicia Framis does not create art in a wholly traditional sense. She creates projects. As an artist, Framis brings up questions about the way in which society is organized – architecturally, socially and economically. It is society’s vulnerable members, the socially excluded, that Framis zeroes in on: from battered women to the lonely, insomniacs – and smokers. Offering specific, offbeat proposals for the solution of some of these modern-day issues, Framis is the epitome of the contemporary artist who cuts loose from traditional conceptions of artistic practice. A key element in Framis’ practice is to think in terms of alternative strategies. What are the spaces we create around us? And what, ultimately, do they say about us? About our fear of death, for instance, manifest in the way in which we site the weak and the dead at some considerable distance from lived life. With her Remix Buildings, she brought together buildings and notions that we normally keep well apart: a cinema and a hospital, or a ‘cemetery’ placed next to the metro stations’ commercial signage, with urns and people’s names delivering a different sort of aesthetic context at a busy intersection. With this approach, she rethinks social structures, in an attempt to point up alternative possibilities for the design of society, addressing hot button issues such as racism, violence and the safety of citizens, not ponderously but creatively. Questioning, for instance, whether the conventional demo, where people gather in a civic space brandishing banners, remains an actively transformative force. Framis’ most talked-about project is perhaps her reconceiving of the idea of a public demonstration. Framis had heard of a district in Berlin through which dark-skinned women could not pass without fear of racists accompanied by their fierce dogs. As a critical comment on women’s vulnerability in general she created an entire revolutionary bite-proof clothes collection – from burkas to classic Chanel suits – in a new high-strength fabric. The collection, called anti_dog, was launched as a demonstration, with dark-skinned women donning it and demonstrating in several European capitals. It even found its way onto the catwalk during the Paris Fashion Week. For Karriere, Framis has set up a foundation called Karriere Grant. Every time a guest buys a quick beer, seven percent of the profit goes to Karriere Grant. The beer is served in custom-made glasses that announce the idea behind it. The foundation uses some of the bar’s profits to benefit the destitute. Consequently, you can go to town and drink beer – and yet still wake up the next morning with a pleasant taste in your mouth. The money will be distributed once a year, and from Karriere’s website you can submit suggestions as to what or to whom the money should be donated – www.karrierebar.com/karrieregrant
(MKT)

Alicia Framis, born 1967, Spain
www.karrierebar.com/en/karriere-grant