From February 24th, the Hamburger Bahnhof – Contemporary Museum – Berlin will be showing Adrian Piper’s first solo museum exhibition in Germany. “The Probable Trust Registry: The Rules of the Game #1-3” presents the artist's major work of the same name, which was recently acquired for the collection of the Nationalgalerie - Berlin State Museums was acquired.
Over a period of six and a half months, there are three identical, gold-colored counters in the museum's historic hall, placed in front of gray, floor-to-ceiling walls. During the entire duration of the exhibition there will be receptionists at the desks with whom visitors can conclude a contract with themselves. In it, each individual voluntarily commits to aligning their own actions with ethical principles such as honesty and commitment. The entries are recorded in a directory, the “Probable Trust Registry”, which all participants receive at the end of the exhibition. They form a community of people who are likely to be trustworthy in the future.
“The Probable Trust Registry: The Rules of the Game #1-3” is both an installation and a participatory group performance. The work negotiates in a dialogic way how trust is formed and thus aims at the foundations of interpersonal relationships. In a larger context, it raises philosophical but also very practical questions about democratic processes and individual responsibility, because it not only calls on visitors to take an action - a personal commitment - but also makes us think about our daily actions and to think about its consequences on a political, economic and social level.