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: Witte de With - Project - ACT VII: Of Facts and Fables
Luc Tuymans The Worshipper, 2004
193 x 147,5 cm
oil on canvas
photo: Felix Tirry
Courtesy Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp
Type: exhibition Date: May 13, 2010 - September 26, 2010 Location: Witte de With
Witte de With is pleased to present two upcoming exhibitions in the Morality program begun in the Fall of 2009: Act VI: Remember Humanity, and Act VII: Of Facts and Fables. They open simultaneously on 12 May. Act VI runs until 29 August and Act VII continues until 26 September 2010.
Opening on Wednesday 12 May 2010; 6-9 p.m. 6.30 p.m.Expressive Power Series # 1 Max Bonner on The Phenomenology of Speech
A scripted public event that presents, through the words of an Interpersonal Dynamics Consultant and some members of his audience, directly opposing views on 'free speech ideology'.
Written and directed by Nicoline van Harskamp.
Featuring Greg Shapiro as Max Bonner; Paula Juan Lima as Alejandra Alvarez Nowak; Yvette Supraski as Mrs. Malik and Mark Bellamy as Whiff.
This event will be broadcasted live through Ustream and will be available for viewing through this link.
There is a traditional distinction between the earth as the space of nature, and the world as the space of humanity. Fictions and abstractions belong to the world, as do thought and action. The fable, however, invariably returns to nature in search of motifs that are excluded from the principles and imperatives of morality: animals, plants, inanimate objects. Children are the fable's ideal audience, and are also exempt from the sphere of morality and moral imperatives, even if only temporarily - that is, for as long as they are children or remain 'child-like.' In this sense, that which is excepted from morality is susceptible to becoming an example - a negative example - of the seemingly chaotic and 'anarchic' state of nature. Animal behavior, for instance, is often mobilized by moralistic discourses in order to prove that the true nature of humanity is one of uninhibited impulses that morality is designed to set right.
Of Facts and Fables brings together a selection of works that mobilize this realm of exception, presenting a critical image of the world and its fictions, operating in a space of representation that relies on fabulous motifs. History, mysticism, fiction, and scientific discourse come together in this exhibition as both outmoded forms of thought, and as potential for new kinds of speculative critique.
Artists: Saadane Afif, Danai Anesiadou, Miroslaw Balka, Keren Cytter, Stan Douglas, Agnes Geoffray, Erik van Lieshout, Marko Lulic, Philippe Parreno, Lili Reynaud-Dewar, Luc Tuymans, Ola Vasiljeva, Danh Vo, Tris Vonna-Michell.
Curated by Juan A. Gaitan and Nicolaus Schafhausen; assisted by Amira Gad.
Support
Morality is generously supported by the Mondriaan Foundation and SNS REAAL Fonds.
With thanks to the Fonds BKVB; Maison Descartes and CulturesFrance.
Witte de With is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Culture and the City of Rotterdam.
