Camp Pain '92 was shown on the occasion of the 'super election year': local council and mayoral elections in Tyrol, state elections in Lower Austria, and federal presidential elections.

The artist couple Ruth Honegger and Marino Pascal, who live in Los Angeles, had collected original documents of all 112 candidates who ran for the office of President of the United States in 1992.

The Camp Pain '92 installation was based on a strict system. The candidates were listed in alphabetical order and their complete application documents were shown. Opportunities for citizen participation in politics or the role of the media were questioned, as was the correspondence between the individual candidate and the 'average American' described by polls, statistics and the mass media. The strict structure of the installation brought content to the fore, a variety of attitudes to life, views of politics and social problems such as personal dimensions became visible. In the person of the American President, the functions of a head of state and government leader are merged. The US president has a wide power spectrum at their command, which encompasses the execution of the law, the army command, interventions in economic and social converns of the state, and many more. 

Text: Andrea Hörl