"PRE-EMPTIVE"
2006-08-19 until 2006-10-08
Kunsthalle Bern
Bern, , CH Switzerland

PRE-EMPTIVE features works by Christoph Buchel & Giovanni Carmine (CH), Florian Dombois (CH), Zhang Enli (CN), Kris Fierens (B), Aneta Grzeszykowska (P), Marine Hugonnier (F), Rafael Lozano-Hemmer (MEX), Camille Norment (USA), Serkan Ozkaya (TR), Vanessa Van Obberghen (B) at Kunsthalle Bern from August 19 to October 8, 2006. The notion of "pre-emptive action" stems from an overpowering sense of fear. Pre-emptive means "designed or having the power to deter or prevent an anticipated situation or occurrence". The pre-emptive strike revived by the Republican administrations in the U.S. testifies to their fear of the unforeseen, of difference, even of freedom.

It is a calculated handling of reality typical of the postcolonial era, tactics already employed under Reagan; a policy of fighting against the "multiform, manoeuvring and omnipresent". It is also an affirmation of what some people call a Śprophetic community‚, i.e. a community that is built on largely irrational convictions, and on moral and religious values.

This exhibition intends to invoke a situation that "pre-empts" the realization and possibility of control. Creating a place suffused with possibilities, this show will be a reflection on the non-effectuation of history, an exploration of the specificity and the irrevocability of the event. It is an exhibition concerned with things that cannot be technocratically mastered, about flightlines and the difficult understanding of freedom versus continuous control.

IMAGE
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer,
Glories of Accounting,
Subsculpture 5, 2005

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for Switzerland

Other Important Exhibitions in Switzerland

Call for Artists : 13th Annual Subtle Technologies Festival Explores Sustainability - Subtle Technologies, University of Toronto Art in Mind : Work by Natalia O'Neill - Brick Lane Gallery The Ione Citrin Collection - Poway Center for the Performing Arts Gallery Parallel Realities : Aishan Yu's First Solo Show in the UK - Peifen Fine Art Secrets and Confessions : Peter Sudar, John Stark, Leonard Vartic, Ioan Cristea - Ana Cristea Gallery Call for Artists : The Beast In Me, Johnny Cash - Art Influenced by the Struggle of a Man' - Nave Gallery Notations - Bruce Nauman: Days and Giorni - Philadelphia Museum of Art Beauitful Elsewhere : Fusion and Con-fusion - Migrating Cultures and the Dynamic of Exchange - Universita di Napoli - Partenope Animal Nature : Powerful Paintings, Drawings and Digital Prints by Hyacinthe Kuller-Baron - Computer Arts Gallery