already too late

Solo Exhibition, Galerie b2, Leipzig, Germany, 2020

Filling in the blank with the innumerable things for which we are already too late would be more an exercise in prolific responding than racking one's brain in search of answers. The list of chances missed by now seems inexhaustible. What clearly is capable of being exhausted is us.

Rituals of hope that helped people withstand the initial outbreak have changed over to exhaustion and frustration. A public weariness is sinking in with no end to the pandemic in sight, sending people flocking to various private and public events and gatherings.

Michael Hahn describes a state of exhausted frustration in relation to this sense of missed chances: “If you lose your way, are already too late, you might wish to blame other people and engage in destruction, of self and of others.” A way to rectify this according to Hahn is in finding motivation through the small, seemingly magical moments in life. “If you don't see the little wonders, you can forget about anything big.”

Being behind the curve, that is to change to a new idea or way of doing something later than most, or to react to something after it has already happened, is a notion Hahn plays with in each of his works. Movement that has been thwarted is also implied. A crash, being stuck or marooned, though perhaps only temporarily, can be found in works such as Tide and Tic-tac.

A nod to simplistic design exists, but not where rationality is distilled down to its essence. Rather, it is where objects consist of components that are essentially cheap, adaptable, and possible to mass-produce. It is also where daily life is remade as an aesthetic artefact in its own right. This follows from Hahn's desire to recognize the incredible in the mundane.

“New exciting things bring new ideas, new perspectives and thus the decisive impulses on the journey to find oneself. If these do not pave the way to one's own peace, even the greatest idea is of no use against annoyance, depression, life negation. The complexity is not the problem. It is poor judgement, lack of reflection and bought stupidity that call for apocalyptic malice.” —Michael Hahn

Concerned about seeing many as “already on a path to hate,” Hahn focuses on his work being more about joy, which can take the forms of amusement, comfort or even distraction. “Easy to befriend. Not too much destruction. Something which hopefully gives a moment of enjoyment. It's not meant to be a finger pointing to anything. Nothing didactic is intended. Just having a good time and taking people out of their potentially destructive thinking, if only for a moment.”

—Elizabeth Gerdeman (2020)