29 September 2017, at 7 pm
Epeka Gallery, Maribor
You are cordially invited to the opening of the group exhibition “Auf die Dauer setzt der territoriale Imperativ sich durch” (“In the long run, the territorial principle will assert itself”), organised by the renowned Austrian curator Michael Petrowitsch at the Epeka Gallery. The exhibition will open on Friday, 29 September 2017, at 19:00.
Cooks of Grind / Andrea Schlemmer / Borut Popenko / Borut Stergar / Uwe Gallaun / Boris Jaušovec
The project refers to the above quote under the quotation marks by Peter Sloterdijk. The so-called refugee crisis, its realpolitik implications, its mirroring in the media and its intellectual reverberations were the trigger for this quote and for many other statements. In doing so, a significant number of thinkers have turned their backs on the initial widespread popular support for the so-called ‘culture of welcome’ and have harshly criticised the refugee policy of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. This was a sign that national self-awareness had become acceptable for high, salon political debate. Indirectly, Sloterdijk touched on the fundamental question raised by the refugee crisis, which can be broken down to its basics. How can the nation state, huddled behind its borders, and European coexistence stand together? This dichotomy runs throughout the history of the concept of Europeanness, from its inception onwards. Political Europeanness (from the Phoenician erob – dark, evening) and its fall back into a multitude of self-sufficient statehoods of its own is a double game between unity and any nationalism. This dual nature has also come to the fore between two towns close to the border, which are only a good 40 minutes’ drive apart. Graz and Maribor have both recently been European Capitals of Culture and have been twin cities since 1987. The two cities have been linked as well as separated throughout centuries of history, and have been marked as such. They have experienced much that is historically remarkable, but also humanly reprehensible, on their doorsteps. But it has resulted in the reintroduction of rigid borders in 2017 (one hundred years after the October Revolution). Yet another reminder of the growing dominance of national mindsets behind closed borders.
The exhibition will be on display until 25 October 2017.
Contact: 040 586 843
We would like to thank the Maribor Art Gallery, Soundbiro and Guest Room Maribor for their support in the realisation of the exhibition.
Photos by Zarja Belina
GALLERY
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