Installation based on the performance Protektoramae Forking Horizon 5.5.5.1., 2016
Courtesy: Johannes Paul Raether

The lifelines of the WorldWideWitches, Protektoramae, investigate people’s obsession with their smartphones. They address the relationship of the body to the screen, explore portable computer systems as body prosthetics, and address the materiality, manufacturing, and mines of information technologies. The figure central to the installation is one of the many fictional identities of artist Johannes Paul Raether, Protektorama. Protektorama became known to a wider audience in July 2016 when a performance in Berlin, in which gallium—a harmless metal—was liquefied in an Apple store, led to a police operation at Kurfürstendamm. In contrast to the shrill tabloid coverage, the performative work of the witch is based on complex research and visualizations, presented here for the first time in the form of a sculptural ensemble including original audio tracks from the performance. The figure of Protektorama stems from Raether’s cyclical performance system Systema identitekturae (Identitecture), which he has been developing since 2009.