Monumentalismus
dal 11/6/2009 al 11/7/2009
Segnalato da
Leo Asemota
Lonnie van Brummelen
Siebren de Haan
Jeremiah Day
Gert Jan Kocken
Renzo Martens
Sarah Ortmeyer
Jelle Bouwhuis
11/6/2009
Monumentalismus
Kunsthalle Autocenter, Berlin
One's History is Another's Misery. The point of departure for the exhibition is the concept of the monument, as a symbol and record of a specific history - a history which nonetheless gets interpreted differently through the passage of time. Monuments were erected primarily for the purpose of "nation building", which involves the creation and validation of a collective, shared identity within particular national boundaries.
Curated by Jelle Bouwhuis
Leo Asemota, Lonnie van Brummelen / Siebren de Haan, Jeremiah Day, Gert
Jan Kocken, Renzo Martens, Sarah Ortmeyer. Curated by Jelle Bouwhuis.
Opening Performance '1-2-3-4' by Jeremiah Day - 12 June at 8.30 p.m. The
point of departure for the exhibition 'Monumentalismus (One's History is
Another's Misery)' is the concept of the monumental, or the monument, as a
symbol and record of a specific history – a history which nonetheless
gets interpreted differently through the passage of time. Monuments were
erected primarily for the purpose of 'nation building', which involves the
creation and validation of a collective, shared identity within particular
national boundaries. Beginning in the 19th century specific events which
were definitive for that identity took on mythic proportions, and that
mythology still lives in the form of collective memory, certainly in
Europe and the United States.
But in the post-colonial era, with streams
of migrants coming to the West from all corners of the world, it is
becoming increasingly clear that historical identities as they have been
handed down to us, and with them the idea of separate, well-defined nation
states, are being undermined (however much nationalistic movements may try
to deny it). In the words of T.J. Demos, 'the refugee represents 'the
paradigm of a new historical consciousness', particularly because with
that figure, we glimpse a future beyond the nation-state and its
destructive exclusion of non-citizens' (Demos, citing Giorgio Agamben, in
Altermodern catalogue, p. 76). In other words, what a nation state
embodies in symbolism and collective identity generally also has a
negative version for those who stand, or stood, outside this symbolism and
identity. 'Monumentalismus (One's History is Another's Misery)' is an
exhibition with artists who, in their work, focus attention on specific
histories and events that are part of collective identities, as in
monuments, but which have this reverse side, positive or negative,
integral to it.
Kindly supported by the Mondriaan Foundation
Image: Renzo Martens, still from 'Episode III - Enjoy Poverty', 2008
Autocenter
Eldenaerstrasse 34A - Berlin
Open: Wed - Sat 3 to 6 p.m.