“Neo-feudalism” refers to a sociological concept that describes postmodern societies as increasingly resembling medieval feudal systems. Its key feature is the concentration of power and wealth in the hands of a few companies or elites, as well as tightly closed monetary cycles, accompanied by restrictions on the autonomy and economic mobility of the general population. In his exhibition, Sträfer explores the following questions: What connections exist between “neoliberal ideologies”, neo-feudal realities and violence? What forms do these take, and how are they embedded in the aesthetics and narratives of popular culture?

At the heart of the exhibition is a series of flat, comic-book-style figures made of black-lacquered wood and latex, which become the protagonists of a social environment within the exhibition space. Each of these silhouettes has its own goals, its own social role to fulfil, and its own place within a network of order and control. Standing as if brightly lit on a stage, they cast long shadows, thereby reflecting themselves into another dimension of the space. Within these shadows, the actions and motivations of the protagonists are reflected once more and take on a life of their own. A web of motivations, fears and convictions comes into view; a multidimensional interplay of accusations, arrests, defences and attacks unfolds, drawing the visitor – as a seemingly innocent civilian – into the spectacle.

This dynamic backdrop is accompanied by a series of paintings, created using airbrush and oil paint, which depict various motifs in a shimmering, blurred manner. A diptych, for example, depicts an almost apocalyptic, ecstatic scene of athletic young men on the beach, fighting, groping one another and raising pistols into the air as if calling for a departure, whilst another painting shows a comparable scene, reminiscent of Matisse, featuring four young men engaged in a brutally animalistic dance. The paintings thus reflect currently viral, misogynistic conceptions of masculinity, their cult-like and destructive dimensions, whilst drawing parallels with historical iterations of masculinity within modernist ideologies.

“There is no such thing as a free lunch” is an attempt to translate social and economic relationships into a model, to adopt a pars pro toto approach to complex processes and interactions that elude everyday experience. It is an invitation to be bewildered once more by what is happening around us.