Unpredictable Liars Revolt

In the age of full-blown consumerism and ideological inertia, individual identity is primarily communicated through labels with which an imagined self is positioned and valorised. The different needs and constraints result in a patchwork of veiling self-dramatisation, an anomythic hide-and-seek game of surfaces in which analogue and virtual individuals threaten to collapse. The complexity and diversity of semiotic references form a cross-milieu system that can no longer be penetrated individually and leaves its bearers behind. In the context of the sound collage, the voices of the latter - once the medium with which self-image and self-assurance were communicated - become a barely perceptible whispering, speaking and singing, which at the same time invites direct sensory experience as a stream of consciousness and negotiates questions of role-playing, isolation, interpersonal communication and social co-existence.

"Human-like figures, magnificently draped in colours and patterns, nourished by their engagement with Japanese theatre and arts and crafts; with the appearance of having grown out of painting, populate spaces and, in a limp, melting state, pour colourfully across the floor, becoming drawing again." - Andreas Reihse

The main impulse for the first version of the installation Unpredictable Liars (2017) comes inspired by Japanese Nō theatre, which already has inherent loss of the individual through the use of centuries-old symbols. Another version was formed in 2018-19 with the series Unpredictable Liars II, where the ghostly transhuman characters seem like the last survivors of a utopia. In the new series Unpredictable Liars Revolt (2021), the figures have been encased in epoxy, which further emphasises the congealed character of their disguise, devoid of meaning and stripped of interhumanity.

- Text by Matthias Jakob Becker

They are encased in epoxy, which further emphasizes the frozen character of their veiling, which is devoid of meaning and torn from the interpersonal. The sound coming from the figures, is a barely perceptible whispering, speaking and singing. As a stream of consciousness, it becomes a sensory experience to the listener and negotiates questions of role play, isolation, interpersonal communication and social co-existence.

- Text by Gilles Neiens

Isabella Fürnkäs embraces the heterogeneity of Essen's City Nord and makes use of various locations around the district, which she brings into speculative connection with each other. She creates hybrid apparitions in the consumer world-mostly based on traditional mannequins —out of everyday disposable and leftover materials, which she uses in a comparable way to costume jewellery and other accessories.

In the goth shop Dark Ages, in shop windows such as those belonging to the Enza Home furniture studio or the Art Faktors tattoo studio, on the escalator of the second-hand shelf rental scheme Konsumreform, or inside Expo Alternativ, her figures blend almost imperceptibly into their surroundings while subtly commenting on them. In their ambiguity between the affirmation of consumerism and the fetishism of fashion, they merge into an amalgam of urban neuroses.

At a time in which gender roles are being called into question by fluid (self-assigned) identities, fashion's culture of labelling takes on a dystopian element. In Fürnkäs's work, fashion's symbols of glamour collapse into worn-out cable harnesses, ruined shopping bags, and repurposed DIY supplies. In autumnal shades of blush and ruby, her transhuman figures comment on the urban locations where they are displayed, the shop windows, displays, and display cases becoming ephemeral stages in a consumer society that seems to be coming to an end and is searching for new perspectives.

- Text by Markus Ambach

Unpredictable Liars Revolt, 2021-2022

Sound installation, veiled mannequins, coated with epoxy, speakers, various materials and fabrics, dimensions variable

Listen to the sound: https://soundcloud.com/isabella-f-rnk-s/unpredictable-liars

Photos by Katja Ilner, Markus Ambach