Social Human Installation „Social Bycatch 1.0“

This moving, interactive installation was first presented on 18 September 2021 during a vernissage at Dennis Mesegs studio in Wesseling near Cologne. Just a few hours earlier, the artist received this year’s CREO award for his meanwhile internationally acknowledged Corona-Installation „It is like it is“. The award is granted by the German Society for Creativity e.V.

„Social Bycatch“ shows two homeless people with their belongings, sitting behind a glass pane. Viewers are confronted with the social problems of these people, which should raise the awareness that a society looking the other way is responsible for their fate. Touching a red button activates a camera which takes a picture of the viewer. The printed photograph should become an enduring reminder of the scene.

What inspired Dennis Meseg apart from his social commitments to create his new installation „Social Bycatch“ was an intellectual walk, taking him away from human society to another powerful force: the sea. Creator of life and destroyer, boundless, wild and beautiful. Praised by poets as the mirror of the sinking sun, then again seen as the cold cloak of cruel elements.

For those, who recognize the conformity of the sea and mankind, the title „Social Bycatch“ conjures up images:
A trawler on the sea of people, making its way to the best fishing grounds. Casting their nets over the crashing waves whose immaculate whitecaps remind you of the rich and beautiful, living a life in the sun. Below them are the fish – the catch delivering food and prosperity, comparable with the working class, the tax payers.

If the net sinks deeper, it will catch the young fish, which must not happen,because the little ones ensure the future catch, income and wealth. In the darkness below, there are the old ones, spending what is left of their life – a bit forgotten, a bit uneatable, ignored, little appreciated.
Even deeper though the nets must not sink, because when they touch the ground, stirring through sand and pebbles in the dark, where it is cold and lonely, and the sun never shines, then those nets return to the surface full of bycatch that nobody wants. Meagre, old, wasted, disappointed of life and forgotten by his fellow men.

Is this bycatch of any use? Dennis Meseg says: Yes, it is. We can look at it and start thinking. We can improve the living conditions of the homeless. Show some compassion. And respect. It would make the sea of peoplea better place – for all of us. For we all are tiny fish in a wild environment which gives no guarantees for everlasting happiness and a good life.

The first Solo-Show: Show in Wesseling.