Page 44 - "he 2020 Guggenheim issue of World of Art Contemporary Art Magazine
P. 44

“The crack begins within” are words borrowed from
                                                              poet Iman Mersal. She explores the many ghosts of
                                                              motherhood, tearing apart its contemporary morals.
                                                              She begins with the refusal to become the sacrificed,
                                                              the “egg that the newborn breaks en route to life.” She
         EXP. 1:                                              rummages in the crevices of this dissent, exploring the
         11TH BERLIN BIENNALE                                 many ways that within all the brokenness the mother
         THE BONES OF THE WORLD                               and child carry, there is pain and beauty, mourning and
                                                              living. As the epilogue of the Biennale The Crack Begins
         Installation views
                                                              Within calls out the fallacy of claiming for oneself the
                                                              destruction of the old and the birthing of the new,
         The slow opening of the 11th Berlin Biennale began a
                                                              refloated so many times by the white fathers as a new
         year ago, and since then it has been exploring the many
                                                              scaffolding to secure the continuity of their decaying
         cracks we carry, the fissures that keep us apart and
                                                              structures. This is the violence that surrounds us, and
         those that bring us together. Many of the invited artists
                                                              that we are a part of.
         and participants in the Biennale have been exploring and
         practicing this, each in their own artistic terms, in their
                                                              The Crack Begins Within comprises the overlapping
         own contexts and temporalities. Making space to share
                                                              experiences of the artworks gathered in the
         these experiences demanded that we slow down the
                                                              exhibition, breathing together, touching and moving
         unsustainable pace of biennials and forgo the expectation
                                                              one another. It is a testament to the powerful
         of a singular concept, a novel idea to once again fix
                                                              collective stories they tell, the work they do, and
         things into place. When the coronavirus pandemic hit
                                                              the things they shatter. The epilogue is an exercise
         the European fortress several months ago, it felt for a
                                                              of mutual recognition, an acknowledgement of
         moment that the earth wanted to stand still. The virus
                                                              the cracks in the system, of those broken by it
         exposed the cruelty of everyday life and the inequality
                                                              and their struggles. As the carceral politics of
         endured by the vast majority of people imprisoned by
                                                              compartmentalization are cracked open, art will not
         patriarchal capitalism. As we write, many of those whose
                                                              disappear into nothingness, but flow into everything.
         works are present in the exhibition are in the South
                                                              The Crack Begins Within is a nod to the solidarity in
         and continue living under lockdown, in places where
                                                              vulnerability of the healers and carers, the fighters,
         professional healthcare is a luxury, safeguarding only the
                                                              their fractures, and their power.
         privileged.
                                                              Walkthrough with María Berríos and Lisette Lagnado
                                                              During Berlin Art Week 2019, María Berríos and Lisette Lagnado, two of
                                                              the curators of the 11th Berlin Biennale, invite to a joint tour through the
                                                              exhibition exp.1: The Bones of the World.

         Installation view exp. 1: The Bones of the World, 7.9.–9.11.2019, 11th   Installation view exp. 1: The Bones of the World, 11th Berlin Biennale c/o
         Berlin Biennale c/o ExRotaprint. Photo: Mathias Völzke  ExRotaprint, photo: Mathias Völzke
























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