Installation View Why Socialism? by Albert Einstein curated by Gabriel Orozco, kurimanzutto New York, 2025. Photo: Zach Hyman.
text by Poppy Baring
The title of Einstein’s 1949 essay, Why socialism? is as relevant now as it was almost seventy-five years ago. This exhibition features artists' responses to this paper and begins with curator Gabriel Orozco’s refined version of the text, presented as a collage of modest photocopies. Themes that are still scarily close to those that swell in today's discourse are included; “private capital tends to be concentrated in few hands”, “legislative bodies are selected by political parties largely financed by private capitalists”,“production is carried on for profit not for use”, and “an exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student who is trained to worship acquisitive success.”
Installation View Why Socialism? by Albert Einstein curated by Gabriel Orozco, kurimanzutto New York, 2025. Photo: Zach Hyman
These brief summaries of Albert Einstein's issues with capitalism are echoed in some parts of the media today. In a recent interview with comedian Marc Maron, Barack Obama spoke about how our culture is geared toward consumption, material goods, and now even fame. He advocates for values, which used to be instilled by institutions like the church, to be reaffirmed. The author Scott Galloways, when speaking with Piers Morgan, notes that innovation has somehow replaced or excused depravity, citing Elon Musk as a clear example. Geoffrey Hinton, one of the pioneers of modern AI and winner of the 2024 Nobel prize, warned audiences of the danger of digital beings created by companies motivated by short-term profits. The answer to these issues, the Why Socialism? essay suggests, is a socialist economy and an educational system orientated towards social goals…
Installation View Why Socialism? by Albert Einstein curated by Gabriel Orozco, kurimanzutto New York, 2025. Photo: Zach Hyman.
While visitors are left with political thoughts ruminating, they enter the almost all black and white main room of the exhibition and approach large grayscale flags of United Nations members, made by Wilfredo Prieto in a piece called Apolitico. Their loss of colour strips away any signs of allegiance or patriotism, and presents these flags as interchangeable. Other works, such as Ariel Schlesinger’s Burnt Newspapers, show the fragility of historical records, which is brought up again in the final and most shocking part of the exhibition, The Pegasus Stories by Forensic Architecture.
This video on digital violence reveals the terrifying real-life experiences of international human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers, and activists whose devices were infected and monitored by corporations using Pegasus, a destructive software developed by the Israeli cyber-weapons manufacturer NSO Group. Initially developed as just one part of Israel’s mass surveillance of Palestinians, Pegasus is now being used to target individuals across forty-five countries. In the passage for visitors to read before watching the film, they explain the American government's public rejections of the software, which contrasts against its private acquisition of some of its tools from the NSO group's U.S affiliate, showing depravity at its finest.
This exhibition exposes visitors to an array of artists' responses to Einstein’s essay. The stories reported in the final film are enough to leave you speechless, and overall, this display provides a dark and scary reflection of our current reality, which indeed supplies an answer to the question being posed.
Installation View Why Socialism? by Albert Einstein curated by Gabriel Orozco, kurimanzutto New York, 2025. Photo: Zach Hyman.
Why Socialism? By Albert Einstein is on view through October 18th, 2026 at the Kurimanzutto Gallery, 516 W 20th St, New York, NY 10011.