Jonáš Richter has long worked at the point of schism in human speech: he uses the tension between the content of words and the emotions of speech independent of words. He seeks out clashes between the linearity of narrative and the continuity of impression, critical analysis and emotional carried away, the structure of language and the weight of voice. His medium is recording. He begins with an interest in text, but operates at the moment when the text collapses: the addressee stops "paying attention," but continues to listen. At this moment, it is crucial who is speaking and how they "became themselves." The exhibition Happiness Is Not for Everyone is a look at the phenomenon of self-help guides that resuscitate the myth of the strong, masculine individual who has his life firmly in his own hands. However, when we focus more closely, we see a lonely man in distress. From the constructed nature of the situation—the asynchronization and denial of the source image and sound, the speaker's hesitant yet determined diction—we can guess that this is a game with authenticity, that we are witnessing the performance of a role, the fulfillment of a task, the immersion in the state of a sovereign. The speaker adheres to syntax, argues, and intonates correctly. But are these his words? Whose truth do we ultimately hear? The alienation escalates at moments when meditative-sounding ambient layers begin to appear beneath the speech itself. It is as if we have suddenly refocused. We can then read the shot as a view of an abstracted sign in the (political) field, a figure in relation to the background. The "world" with which the speaker is coming to terms is evoked in the real sounds of nature or the suburbs.
When completely blurred, words and images emancipate themselves from their source and implode. Only spots remain, the sermon about the match sounds hollow, and the protagonist hovers above himself like a raised finger. The game of men seems darker than at the beginning, the field is unclear, the game is played for speed and according to foreign rules. "Start with yourself" suddenly sounds ridiculous, because "end with yourself" is embarrassingly close.
