by Nadia Egan // Nov. 22, 2024
“Work, hard, intensive work that takes up all your brain and nerves, is the greatest pleasure in life”—or so Rosa Luxemburg would have us believe. But is it really? The great wave of revolutionary socialism may have long since receded, and while fewer of us are out laboring at the docks, and most are now fixed to computer screens, are we any less caught in the grind? Are we genuine workaholics who likewise declare work as our greatest pleasure, or are we simply stuck in the rat race that is capitalism? At Galerie Anton Janizewski, artist Ferdinand Dölberg takes Luxemburg’s words and flips them on their head with his exhibition, ‘working is the beginning of all evil,’ where anonymous figures show a darker side to this glorified labor.
Ferdinand Dölberg: ‘working is the beginning of all evil,’ 2024, installation view // Photo by Julian Blum, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Anton Janizewski, Berlin
It’s clear from the start that Dölberg’s work borrows from the philosophy and aesthetic of socialist realism: the glory of collective effort, productivity, dynamic compositions. However, where historical socialist realist works celebrated labor and industrial progress with rigorous optimism, Dölberg takes a different approach. His ambiguous compositions challenge the value and purpose of work, depicting figures with neutral expressions that arouse doubt rather than triumph.
This is most evident in the show’s opening piece, ‘Kein Ende in Aussicht, es sei denn du hilfst’ (No end in sight unless you help) (all works 2024). Stretching an imposing six meters across, the artwork is packed with identical, anonymous figures locked in repetitive, undefined physical tasks. Every figure is a replica—the same monochrome face, uniform body and checkered clothing. The rigid poses and synchronized actions give a sense of industrial monotony. At first glance, the piece looks like a homage to the hardworking, ideal socialist laborer earning their keep. But the illusion quickly dissolves; that emotionless face on repeat can’t keep up the facade. The deadpan expressions show the figures in a trance-like state of working, just cogs in the machine. Despite the vivid, kinetic composition, there’s a hollow stillness to it. The lights are on but no one’s home.
Ferdinand Dölberg: ‘working is the beginning of all evil,’ 2024, installation view // Photo by Julian Blum, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Anton Janizewski, Berlin
The hard slog continues in ‘wie man so sitzt, sind Tätigkeiten schneller als Gedanken’ (the way you sit, activities are faster than thoughts)—an intricate eight-canvas modular sliding system. Intersecting grids and abstract shapes amplify the sense of a rigid, systemic environment that binds them. The work is even more alive with movement, as more indistinguishable figures dash left and right in another cycle of nondescript labor. Their exaggerated poses and streamlined forms suggest urgency, yet their vacant expressions betray a lack of intent or connection to their work. These figures could easily slide into another frame, another pointless task, without breaking the monotony.
Ferdinand Dölberg: ‘working is the beginning of all evil,’ 2024, installation view // Photo by Julian Blum, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Anton Janizewski, Berlin
But even this facade of an unbreakable force inevitably shatters. In ‘ich sehe die Menschen vor lauter Arbeit nicht’ (I can’t see people because of all the work), we encounter a rare moment of vulnerability, a crack in the emotional armor. A solitary figure buries their face in both hands, their mouth twisted into a mournful frown, their posture heavy with despair. This raw display marks a stark departure from the repetitive, emotionless labor depicted elsewhere. Dölberg’s stylistic approach also softens here, reflecting this shift. The once sharp, clean lines dissolve into gentler strokes. The geometric precision gives way to a dreamlike haze, with the charcoal-dominated background glowing with luminous, multi-colored tones reminiscent of the Northern lights. And here, we’re urged to ask: at what point does the grind finally break the soul?
Ferdinand Dölberg: ‘working is the beginning of all evil,’ 2024, installation view // Photo by Julian Blum, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Anton Janizewski, Berlin
By the end of the show, one can’t help but wonder: are we the very figures Dölberg has rendered? How much of our own lives is spent in the same trance-like repetition, unaware of the machines we serve? The anonymous figures, with their endless toiling and hollow expressions, feel less like abstract constructs and more like eerie reflections of ourselves—caught in the grind, disconnected from purpose and complicit in systems we scarcely understand.
Exhibition Info
Galerie Anton Janizewski
Ferdinand Dölberg: ‘working is the beginning of all evil’
Exhibition: Oct. 26–Dec. 7, 2024
antonjanizewski.com
Weydingerstraße 10, 10178 Berlin, click here for map
