Fine people on both sides, and me.

Lars Eidinger just wanted to understand the world for a moment. The hatred he experienced brought tears to his eyes. And so he nibbled anxiously on his unpainted index finger in front of the assembled film press until appreciative clapping relieved him of his miserable dismay at the general circumstances. A timid smile of the stage star. Later, the gloating of others. The man, who just a few weeks earlier had staged himself with an Aldi-inspired luxury handbag in front of a sleeping camp of homeless people, had thus come to realize his own inadequacy. It's just that anyone who feels the pain in the lives of the worse-off from the podium has to position himself on the right side of history without their encouragement. Jody Korbach captured the scene in a watercolor - emblematic of all those moments in which people take a stand, in which they bring the synthesis of their self-reflection to the outside world still unpolished, and which are used as key moments for evaluating past and future actions. Sure, it was a stupid appearance by Eidinger, but is empathy to be denied in advance, even if he still has to provide proof of solidarity? Would Korbach have done better? Does she do it better? With her exhibition fine people on both sides, and me. at NAK Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Korbach probes the implications of her self-location on the political spectrum. She has always been left-wing, but not so left-wing that in her youth she would have squeezed a potato into the muffler of some fancy car. Now she'd like to punch someone in the jaw. Or thinks she should punch someone in the jaw. Or thinks she should want to punch someone in the jaw. But she would actually like to have some peace and quiet. "I imagine it would be satisfying to beat someone to hospital." In any case, Korbach has already fixed the fantasy. Maybe it's a matter of prophylactically maltreating rights before they continue to hurt who they don't want to be considered human. Maybe a few burning SUVs are the signal it needs to mobilize a vocal majority for the class struggle. Maybe you have to have tried violence before you can categorically reject it. Those who didn't kick off a Mercedes star in their youth, however, will have to give their minds a good going over in adulthood in order to try out belated left-wing radicalization in the justiciable realm. #partywennhelmutkohlstirbt lol, gladly also mocking the accidental death of Austrian right-wing populists. But really right in the face? It's possible that at some point you'll be too old for so much radicalism. From the sidelines, Korbach approaches a political playing field where the law of the fist is supposed to replace debate. The radical left cheerleader is ready to pounce on her opponents - at least in theory. In practice, she is inhibited because she suspects that she will not be able to feel genuine threat even after she has been properly punched. You can't inscribe yourself in suffering. Angry beatings and tears of consternation are in a way related to each other as deficient means of expression of sincere sympathy. At NAK Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Korbach nuances aggression with a desire for healing. Pharmacy signs launch a longing for criticism and struggle - but please without pain, for a world in which tolerance of ambiguity is not suspected of masking spinelessness, in which violence need not be a facet of attitude, and in which human dignity is not permanently groped, while everyone is actually standing with both feet on the ground of the free democratic basic order. How can we finally get some peace in the cardboard box? Is it still possible to start a conversation or does it have to bang first? Jody Korbach gives a few answers between the lines in her exhibition. Which doesn't mean that they have to be right. Jody Korbach (*1991, Bielefeld) studied at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf with Tal R, Christopher Williams and Johannes Paul Raether. In 2017, she completed her studies as a master student of Christopher Williams. From the winter semester 2023/24, she will be professor of art and art education at Akademie der bildenden Künste Nürnberg. Korbach lives and works in Düsseldorf.