_957 N°133
Turn Doubt into Belief
2022
Artist zine
32 pages, 32 illustrations in color, 29.7 x 21 cm, softcover, saddle stitched
Photographed, edited and designed by Jakob and Thomas Galler
Published by Stephan Wittwer, _957 Independent Art Magazine, Lucerne, ISSN 2296-3057
Turn Doubt into Belief brings together all the fragments of a Nike Air Max sneaker disassembled into its individual parts. Titled Arab Air Max, this was originally part of a serial production of over twenty pairs of shoes that I had made in 2015 for the exhibition On Remote Control, Lothringer 13 Halle in Munich. Through the online platform Nike ID (now Nike By You), various Air Max models were produced through conceptual customizing in the Pan-Arab colors (Black/White/Mystic Green/Studio Red).
Turn Doubt into Belief comes from my text collection of various appropriated slogans from legendary Nike advertising campaigns dating back to the seventies. These are often based on a provocative, socio-political content. Martial and military vocabulary is used, and the language is imperative: Destroy to Create! Following this maxim, I disassemble the Air Max into its leather, foam, rubber and textile parts. Opening the threads and loosening the glued joints becomes a reflection and analysis of the construction and materiality.
„The destructive character knows only one watchword: make room; only one activity: clearing away. His need for fresh air and open space is stronger than any hatred. The destructive character is young and cheerful. For destroying rejuvenates in clearing away the traces of our own age; it cheers because everything cleared away means to the destroyer a complete reduction, indeed eradication, of his own condition. No vision inspires the destructive character. He has few, needs, and the least of them is to know what will replace what has been destroyed.“ (Text excerpt from The Destructive Character, Walter Benjamin, 1931)
Turn Doubt into Belief represents a process of transition and shows the fragments of an Air Max in ambivalent, sculptural form. But this publication is also the script for an experimental film set that takes on the cinematic reproduction of the sneaker.
