January 22 - May 2, 2010

Animism is a long-term exhibition and publication project that approaches the concept of animism - coined by 19th century anthropologists in the context of the colonial encounter - from a contemporary perspective. It addresses the current increase in interest in animism, which stems from a widespread re-visioning of modernity, by a reflection on aesthetic processes seen through the prism of an exhibition.

By placing selected historical references next to contemporary work, Animism brings together works that reflect and negotiate the boundary between the subjective and the objective. Across the registers of technological media, moving images, depictions of life and embodiment, the exhibition questions the mimetic processes of modern aesthetics as ways to negotiate and, often paradoxically, confirm and maintain the imaginary oppositions of modernity.

An accompanying catalogue - the first in a series of two - connects several recent attempts at rethinking animism from a variety of perspectives, and traces their various historical genealogies.

Concept: Anselm Franke
Curators: Antwerp: Anselm Franke (Director Extra City Antwerp), Edwin Carels (Researcher KASK/HoGent), Bart De Baere (Director M HKA Antwerp).

A second version of the exhibition will be shown at Kunsthalle Bern from May till July 2010. Subsequent versions will be developed at the Generali Foundation in Vienna and the House of World Cultures in Berlin in 2011 and 2012, respectively.

More information:
www.extracity.org
www.muhka.be

Image: Daria Martin, Soft Materials, 2004 (16mm film)