Totem & Taboo is a text work by artist Hassan Khan, commissioned by CCA Berlin for the second edition of Displayed Words. It is an experiment in thinking with language, text, and poetry through digital and public formats.

The poem consists only of quotes extracted from a 2023 New York Times article that investigates the termination of the decade-long partnership between Adidas and Kanye West, along with the ambivalences that emerged in the fallout.

Khan’s method involves an intentional process of sampling the existing article to produce a publicly accessible narrative of a true story that always keeps the context in sight. By situating the work at such a public site—the Rathaus Tiergarten, the piece engages with current local and global debates, while offering a critical examination of media rhetoric and the corporate logic of representation when it comes to discrimination and antisemitism.

The public displaying of the New York Times article—now rearranged and given a new rhythm, charges the words and phrases with a critical agency, prompting viewers to contemplate the following questions: Who is complicit and who is held accountable by which standards? What speech is deemed acceptable or dismissible, and under what circumstances? What happens when profit stands in the way of accountability?

Introduction and textual guide to the piece in the artists words available here.