Poetics of Power
15.11.2024 - 25.05.2025
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Duration
15.11.2024 - 25.05.2025
Opening
14.11.2024 18:00
Location
Kunsthaus Graz
Curators
Andreja Hribernik & Nini Palavandishvili
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About the
Exhibition
The exhibition Poetics of Power aims to reveal certain power manifestations hidden in symbols, gestures and existing unquestioned relations or systems. It asserts the intricate and ambiguous nature of power, omnipresent in shaping interpersonal, cultural, national, and economic dynamics. The exhibition explores the poetic nature of power, acknowledging its pervasive influence yet emphasizing its tendency to lead to destruction.
Foucault states that “power is everywhere, not because it embraces everything, but because it comes from everywhere”.[1] Power is for that reason omnipresent, constantly in flux, reproduced and permanent. Examining diverse geographical and historical contexts sheds light on how power reveals and solidifies within social, economic, and political frameworks. Most clearly, it is manifested in asymmetries that occur when there is the imbalance of power, in economic relations between more powerful states and those lacking economic or even military power, or simply between individuals or social groups. Less visible is the power that lurks on the edges, part of the social networks, and taken as historical de-facto or reality. This contradictory nature of power becomes especially intriguing when considering its crystallization within certain systems, fostering stability. However, an intrinsic aspect of power is its immanent counterpart—resistance. The latter, dispersed and transformative, instigates change and facilitates the reconfiguration of systems.
The exhibition shows works that revolve around the poetic and alluring nature of power on one hand and the destructive face of power on the other. Through artistic approaches, it explores the gestures and imaginaries that sometimes obscure or conceal the power relations, simultaneously exposing anomalies and cracks where cultural imbalances and inequalities become apparent. Many of the featured works deal with authoritarian histories, distorted narratives, or fully eliminated knowledge, destruction of cultures, and construction of identities. The exhibition sheds light on power asymmetries that often result in exploitative relationships, defining them as colonial and neo-colonial relations that consequently give rise to conflicts and migratory flows. Themes such as war, refugees, crime, humanity, gender, children, mobility, and borders are explored and thematised within multidisciplinary works. These works span across various mediums, including photography, video, sculpture, and installation art. They offer the audience a chance to drift and reflect on a complex journey through time and history, encouraging engagement in the decoding and revelation of hidden or seemingly unquestionable relations.
With works by Yael Bartana, Vajiko Chachkhiani, Jošt Franko, Gabriela Golder, Cristian Inostroza, Grada Kilomba, Daria Koltsova, Goshka Macuga, Daniela Ortiz, Ahmet Öğüt, Erkan Özgen, Hannes Priesch, Monira al Qadiri, Zanny Begg & Oliver Ressler, Anna Zvyagnitseva, Lukas Marxt, Ala Savashevich.
[1] Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Volume I, New York 1978, p. 93.
Poetics of Power 15.11.2024 - 25.05.2025
Exhibition view "Poetics of Power", Daria Koltsova "Tessellated Self" 2023
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Exhibition view "Poetics of Power", Ala Savashevich "Sew on your own" 2022
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Exhibition view „Poetics of Poetics“, front: Anna Zvyagnitseva "The Cage", 2010, back: Moniral Al Qadiri "Crude Eye", 2022
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Kunsthaus director Andreja Hribernik and Nini Palavandishvili have curated the exhibition "Poetics of Power"
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Exhibition view "Poetics of Power", Vajiko Chachkhiani "Lower than the Sky" 2021, video
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Exhibition view "Poetics of Power" with "Anubumin", 2017 from Zanny Begg and Oliver Ressler
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Exhibition view "Poetics of Power", front: Erkan Özgen, "Wonderland" (2016), back: Vajiko Chachkhiani, "Lower than the Sky" (2021)
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Exhibition view "Poetics of Power", front: Lukas Marxt "Fat Man 1:1", 2023 and Yael Bartana "Two Minutes to Midnight", 2021 (back)
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Exhibition view "Poetics of Power", Goshka Macuga "The Nature of the Beast" 2009 (l.) and Daria Koltsova "Tessellated Self" 2023 (r.)
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Exhibition view "Poetics of Power", Goshka Macuga "The Nature of the Beast", 2009
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Exhibition view "Poetics of Power", Daria Koltsova "Tessellated Self" 2023
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Exhibition view "Poetics of Power", part of the work by Goshka Macuga ‘The Nature of the Beast’ 2009
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Exhiition view "Poetics of Power", Yael Bartana "Two Minutes to Midnight" 2021, video still
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Exhibition view "Poetics of Power"
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Exhibition view "Poetics of Power", Gabriela Golder "Conversation Piece" 2012
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Exhibition view "Poetics of Power", front: Anna Zvyagnitseva "The Cage", 2010, back: Moniral Al Qadiri "Crude Eye", 2022
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Exhibition view "Poetics of Power", Christian Inostroza "To Set Free/Liberar" 2019 (l.) und Monira Al Qadiri "Crude Eye", 2022
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Exhibition view "Poetics of Power", Ala Savashevich "Sew on your own" 2022
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Exhibition view "Poetics of Power"
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Eröffnung Poetics of Power, Kunsthaus Graz 2024
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Eröffnung Poetics of Power, Kunsthaus Graz 2024
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Eröffnung Poetics of Power mit den Kuratorinnen Andreja Hribernik und Nini Palavandishvili, Kunsthaus Graz 2024
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Eröffnungsrede mit Andreja Hribernik, Geschäftsführung des Kunsthauses Graz
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Eröffnung Poetics of Power, Kunsthaus Graz 2024
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Eröffnungsrede mit LAbg. Mag. Alexandra Pichler-Jessenko, Poetics of Power, Kunsthaus Graz 2024
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Eröffnung Poetics of Power, Kunsthaus Graz 2024
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Eröffnung Poetics of Power, Ausstellungsansicht Poetics of Power, Kunsthaus Graz 2024
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Eröffnung Poetics of Power, Ausstellungsansicht Poetics of Power, Kunsthaus Graz 2024
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Eröffnung Poetics of Power, Ausstellungsansicht Poetics of Power, Kunsthaus Graz 2024
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Eröffnung Poetics of Power, Ausstellungsansicht Poetics of Power, Kunsthaus Graz 2024
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Eröffnung Poetics of Power, Ausstellungsansicht Poetics of Power, Kunsthaus Graz 2024
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Eröffnung Poetics of Power, Ausstellungsansicht Poetics of Power, Kunsthaus Graz 2024
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Eröffnung Poetics of Power, Kunsthaus Graz 2024
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Eröffnung Poetics of Power, Kunsthaus Graz 2024
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Eröffnung Poetics of Power mit Oliver Ressler, Kunsthaus Graz 2024
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Eröffnung Poetics of Power mit Ahmet Öğüt, Kunsthaus Graz 2024
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