Poetics of Power

Press release

14.11.2024

Image Credits

Duration

15.11.2024 - 25.05.2025

Opening

14.11.2024 6pm

Press event

14.11.2024 11am - 12pm

Place of the press event

Kunsthaus Graz, Space01

Curators

Andreja Hribernik & Nini Palavandishvili

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The exhibition Poetics of Power is aimed at revealing manifestations of power that are hidden in symbols, gestures and existing, unquestioned relationships or systems. It explains the complicated and ambivalent nature of power, which is ever present and continuously reproducible in the creation of inter-human, cultural, national and economic dynamics. Moreover, the show investigates the poetic nature of power by acknowledging its pervasive influence and its ambivalence. The exhibition shows works that revolve around the seductive nature – and destructive face – of power. Artistic approaches enable symbols and ideas to be explored that sometimes disguise or conceal power relations. At the same time, they reveal anomalies and cracks in which cultural imbalances and inequalities become visible.

 

Many of the works shown engage with authoritarian stories, distorted narratives or knowledge that has been completely eradicated, with the destruction of cultures and construction of identities. The exhibition casts light on power asymmetries that often lead to exploitative relationships, defining them as colonial and post-colonial relations that have led to conflicts and migration flows. Such subjects as war, flight, crime, humanity, gender, children, mobility and borders are explored and addressed thematically, in a range of cross-disciplinary works.

 

The exhibited works cover various media, including photography, video, sculpture and installation. They offer the public the chance to float freely, to reflect on a complex journey through time and history. What’s more, they stimulate us to engage with the decoding and exposure of connections that are hidden, or seemingly beyond scrutiny.

Images

Ala Savashevich, Sew on your own, 2022, Courtesy of 66P Subjective Institution of Culture, Wrocław, Poland

Photo: Małgorzata Kujda

Erkan Özgen, Wonderland, Videoprojektion Courtesy of the artist

Erkan Özgen

26 prints, childrens book, Courtesy of the artist

Daniela Ortiz

26 prints, childrens book, Courtesy of the artist

Daniela Ortiz

Daniela Ortiz, ABC of Racist Europe, 26 prints, childrens book, Courtesy of the artist

Daniela Ortiz

Cristian Inostroza, To Set Free / Liberar, Coins on pedestal and video of the action

Cristian Inostroza

Publication is permitted exclusively in the context of announcements and reviews related to the exhibition. Please avoid any cropping of the images. Thank you for crediting the photographs according to the enclosed indications.