"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 group exhibition FIRE AND FORGET. ON VIOLENCE takes the military expression as the starting point for an examination of the conventional ideas about war and force. It is oriented towards the most visible agent of violence: weapons.
FIRE AND FORGET. ON VIOLENCE applies the means of contemporary 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 it had created, separates the violent situation itself from affects like reluctance for killing or overreaction, sympathy or hate. What may this mean for the arguments and evidence of political action? Which meaning does this context of the story receive: the memory and forgetting of an outburst, escalation, or the prevention of violence? And which interest does art have in all this?
The publication accompanying the exhibition, as well as its public and education program, illuminate the theme from other disciplinary perspectives: The book FRIENDLY FIRE & FORGET (Matthes & Seitz Berlin) collects literary texts produced for the occasion by German and international authors, including Schorsch Kamerun, Wladimir Kaminer, and Kathrin Passig. On selected dates, guests who have been personally effected by violence or who deal with it professionally lead tours through the exhibition, or discuss possible ways of engaging with it from theatrical, film, or musical points of view, among them Antonia Baum, Ulrich Matthes, and Rosa von Praunheim.
Curated by Ellen Blumenstein and Daniel Tyradellis
With works by Marina Abramović and Ulay; Ron Amir; Julius von Bismarck; Roy Brand, Ori Scialom, and Keren Yeala Golan; James Bridle; Luis Camnitzer; Mircea Cantor; Jota Castro; Chto Delat; Marcelo Cidade; Jem Cohen; Martin Dammann; Öyvind Fahlström; Harun Farocki; Daniil Galkin; Rudolf Herz; Damien Hirst; Clara Ianni; Emily Jacir; Hunter Jonakin; Joachim Koester; Korpys/Löffler; Barbara Kruger; Robert Longo; Jazmín López; Kris Martin; Ana Mendieta; Michael Müller; Timo Nasseri; NEOZOON; Katja Novitskova; Jon Rafman; Pipilotti Rist; Robbert&Frank Frank&Robbert; André Robillard; Julian Röder; Martha Rosler; Hrair Sarkissian; Santiago Sierra; Timur Si-Qin; Tal R; Javier Téllez; Sharif Waked; Gillian Wearing; He Xiangyu; Amir Yatziv; and Ala Younis.
The exhibition FIRE AND FORGET. ON VIOLENCE is funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation).
With thanks for the financial support of: KW Friends e. V. as well as Rivka Saker, the collector Uli Sigg, Mr. Xue, Peng Pei-Cheng, Outset Contemporary Art Fund, Contemporary Fine Arts Berlin, KOW Berlin.
The publication and event and educational program are funded by the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung/bpb (German Federal Agency for Civic Education).
The cultural programs of KW Institute for Contemporary Art are made possible with the support of the Governing Mayor of Berlin – Senate Chancellery – Cultural Affairs.
Further information:
KW Institute for Contemporary Art
Henriette Sölter
T +49 (0) 30 2434 59 42 / press@kw-berlin.de
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