Values such as the sharing and redistributing of wealth throughout the community, developed in the aftermath of the industrial revolution have been largely deemed utopian and abandoned in favour of the pursuit of individual fulfilment. Participatory art installations such as #SELFIE_LEIPZIG have the ability of reconciling past with present aspirations and of yielding an enjoyable collective experience and a sense of community. As visitors share their selfies on social networks, #SELFIE_LEIZPIG acquires an online alter ego and an existence beyond the physical site of the machine hall and the timeframe of the installation. The Kunstkraftwerk was once a community infrastructure supplying heating to a network of local houses and factories. With the installation created by Darya von Berner, the industrial relic regains its role as a generator by being at the centre of a new social media community forming around the hashtag of its title.

Stéphanie Delcroix