Eva and Franco Mattes

“In BEFNOED (2014-), an acronym for By Everyone, for No One, Every Day, the artist duo have catalyzed everyday people in a performative act that has the potential to be seen as Chaplinesque in its comedy, while equally bringing out the angry neo-Marxist in you. Here, anonymous workers realize webcam performances that verge on something inanely exploitative. These people are hired through crowdsourcing services—indeed, anyone can take part in anyone’s culture nowadays. A fish strapped to a torso being watered, somewhere, placeless, but contained within the frame of the screen. A young man who could be Bangladeshi pours water on his crotch while seated in the front seat of his car, another person licks the rim of a car wheel. These compromising positions are oft performed by people of color, individuals, or those who live in what could be perceived as part of the so-called Third World context—Cambodia, Russia, China, and South Africa.

“These performances act like perforations in the narrative of a global hegemony. They underline a global map of subjugation that is utterly distributed and performed by the participants themselves without the input of the artists. Their voices are presented on contorted screens that demand physical contortions of you the viewer. What role do you have to play in this narrative? Your complicity is inevitable. For all the Amazon shopping you do, for all the sweatshops that you fuel, you may not have pressed the button, but you’ve enforced the machine of social suppression through the automated click-happy bait that you succumb to on a daily basis. This is post-capitalist stir-fry, and you are eating it.”

— Omar Kholeif, 2019