Maria Heimer Åkerlund, Exercis, 2005, two channel video 7min.
Courtesy of the artist
Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art
AUGUST 25 – NOVEMBER 25 2007
RETHINKING DISSENT. Om politikens begränsningar och motståndets möjligheter
The title of the 4th edition of Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art will be RETHINKING DISSENT and it will have the Swedish under title Om politikens begränsningar och motståndets möjligheter, which in English would be: ”On the limits of politics and possibilities of resistance”.
Our curatorial approach is inspired by critical thinking discussing the understanding of our contemporary time as “post-political”, characterised by the dominance of a global market operating on a level above politics; … a time in which our lives and our understanding of the world is highly affected by a continuous state of war, widely presented and explained to us as a clash between traditionalist Islamic fundamentalism and modern liberal democracy. Is this supposed ideological antagonism real? If not, what is this global war really about and what are the consequences of prolonged “state of exception”, as Giorgio Agamben defines it, with increased surveillance and reduced civil rights, continuously justified by the threat of imminent terror attacks and new enemies?
Could it be that the given (and possibly false) choice, between EITHER democracy OR fundamentalism, actually functions as to ensure that nothing really happens in politics, by avoiding a critical discussion on the limits of democracy, while at the same time dismiss anything that is not “democratic” as necessarily horrible, totalitarian and unacceptable to any rational person?
The participating artists of Rethinking Dissent are:
1. Adel Abidin, Iraq/Finland
2. Lida Abdul, Afghanistan
3. AES, Russian Federation
4. Jane Alexander, South Africa
5. Catti Brandelius, Sweden
6. Tania Bruguera, Cuba
7. Democracia, Spain
8. Marianne Lindberg de Geer in collaboration with Jan Alvemark, Sweden
9. Jenny Grönvall, Sweden
10. Maria Heimer Åkerlund, Sweden
11. Thomas Hirschhorn, Switzerland
12. Mats Hjelm, Sweden
13. Pål Hollender, Sweden
14. Jenny Holzer, USA
15. Lamia Joreige, Lebanon
16. Otto Karvonen, Finland
17. Armando Lulaj, Albania
18. Mandana Moghaddam, Iran/Sweden
19. Melik Ohanian, France
20. Mario Rizzi, Italy
21. Joanna Rytel, Sweden
22. Anri Sala, Albania/Germany;
23. Fia Stina Sandlund, Sweden
24. Santiago Sierra, Spain/Mexico
25. Sislej Xhafa Kosovo/USA
26. Hendrik Zeitler, Germany/Sweden
27. Johan Zetterquist, Sweden
28. Ola Åstrand, Sweden
Rethinking Dissent should not be seen as an illustration of the critical theory mentioned earlier. Rather the art works could be said to comment on and explore “symptoms” of an unhealthy state, in which the political space has diminished, our legal security is compromised and in which lethargic comfort takes turn with fear in governing our political aspirations and priorities.
It is our hope that Rethinking Dissent will encourage reflection on different aspects of this “universe inside the walls” to which we seem to have collectively agreed. The invited artists help us visualise and concretises it, while questioning its condition of existence.
Excerpts from © Curatorial outline developed by Joa Ljungberg & Edi Muka, 2007.
