Hebbel am Ufer – HAU 2, Berlin
An exhibition on the relationship between power, the body and violence. The resulting violent act entails practically no risk for those who initiate it; the experience of violence is replaced by its image, or a fantasy of it.
In May 2015, KW Institute for Contemporary Art will open the group exhibition FIRE AND FORGET: ON VIOLENCE. At HAU2 (Hallesches Ufer 32, 10963 Berlin), KW presents Jon Rafman’s project THE NINE EYES OF GOOGLE STREET VIEW and the tip of a German V2 rocket as exhibition teaser for the upcoming project within WAFFENLOUNGE.
Over the Christmas holidays, HAU2 is closed from December 23 until December 26 and on December 31, 2014 as well as on January 1, 2015.
On December 15, 2014, the exhibition curators Ellen Blumenstein and Daniel Tyradellis discuss the blind spots of weapon phantasies in art, philosophy, and science with political scientist Herfried Münkler and artist Amir Yatziv at HAU1 (Stresemannstr. 29, 10963 Berlin). The artist Sean Snyder will also contribute a video work to the evening.
The installation “The Nine Eyes of Google Street View“ by Jon Rafman and a talk with curators Ellen Blumenstein and Daniel Tyradellis at HAU provide a first insight into the exhibition and its subject-matter, planned for May 2015 at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art.
“Fire and forget” comes from military jargon, and is a term for weapons systems that are no longer used in direct combat with an enemy but are launched from a safe distance. The exhibition FIRE AND FORGET. ON VIOLENCE takes the military expression as the starting point for an examination of the conventional ideas about war and armed force. The project revolves around the new dimensions of violence that go with the new technologies, and the new strategies required by this central challenge to our future coexistence. The exhibition is oriented towards the most visible agent of violence: weapons.
FIRE AND FORGET. ON VIOLENCE applies the means of art to address the long-term effects of these new weapons on the human psyche.The loss of a direct, physical confrontation and the danger for one’s own life had created, separates the violent situation itself from affects like reluctance for killing or overreaction, sympathy or hate. The exhibition looks at the political aporia this new detachment between physical violence and imminent threat involves and at the meaning that history, recollection, and forgetting may have for the outbreak – or avoidance – of violence under these new conditions.
Curated by Ellen Blumenstein and Daniel Tyradellis
Participating artists: Luis Camnitzer, Mircea Cantor, Jem Cohen, Martin Dammann, Harun Farocki, Omer Fast, Daniil Galkin, Rudolf Herz, Robert Longo, Jazmín López, Pippilotti Rist, and Martha Rosler, among others
Press & Marketing
Annika Frahm – Head of Press & Marketing Tel +49 (0)30 259 004 -38 a.frahm@hebbel-am-ufer.de
Nino Medas – Marketing Tel +49 (0)30 259 004 -54 n.medas@hebbel-am-ufer.de
Laura Diehl – Editor Tel +49 (0)30 259 004- 432 l.diehl@hebbel-am-ufer.de
Opening 14.12.14, 16–21 h
WAFFENFANTASIEN
Mon, 15.12.2014 20 h, HAU1
Discussion
HAU Hebbel am Ufer
Stresemannstr. 29 10963 Berlin
free entrance; discussion: 5€/3€, in German