The Demise of Everything Good by Nayara Leite & Kaeto Sweeney is a multichannel sound and video installation, shot over two days in November 2023 outside Gulating Court of Appeal in Bergen.
Leite & Sweeney’s installation highlights how language can be harmful, fluid and difficult to control. Throughout their installation at Lydgalleriet we witness how normative governmentality plays out in different layers of the common ground. Supporting and disrupting this governmentality is the rhythmic sound making of the courtroom’s gavel, and the visuality of a skateboarder performing tricks in front of the court building. The installation also uses structural architectural elements to address this ambiguity.
The phrase ‘the demise of everything good’ is used by conservatives to describe cancel culture and the mainstreaming of liberal politics in the media, which they believe signifies the end of an era of free speech. Judith Butler's influential work ‘Excitable Speech’ explores how words can be used as weapons and cause harm, delving into the power of language and its complexity. Butler examines issues such as hate speech and the use of offensive language in various contexts, including the military and public spaces.
The Demise of Everything Good reflects on the relevance of Butler's work in our current era of cancel culture, reminding us of the delicate balance required to protect freedom of expression while addressing the potential harms of certain types of speech.
Featuring Rebecca Reich, a transgender skateboarder from Berlin. The sound is composed of Leite & Sweeney's voices and drum beats with a gavel by lawyer and drummer Felipe Silva.
Supported by Arts Council Norway, Norwegian Visual Artists Fund, KiN, Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts (BEK).