[Pietà , 2009.
Phtgrph: DC Madimin]
Saturday November 7 from 19:00-24:00 and Sunday November 8 from 10:00-17:
At Punt WG / M.v.B. Bastiaansestraat 15, Amsterdam
Hannah Arendt coined the phrase `the banality of evil’. She referred to a process of neutralizing malice through systematic organisation and bureaucratization, arguing that ‘evil’ is the tendency of ordinary people to obey orders and conform to mass opinion without critical thinking. Because ugly, unspeakable acts become routine and accepted as "the way things are done" by hegemonic discourse.
It is the function of dominant ideology to create the mainstream, normalize the unthinkable for the masses. More broadly interpreted - Society is always an arena in which violence, decay and pain exist and are allowed a certain function. Cruelty, pain and violence have long been exploited, in many ways and for many causes. Art, religion, science, media are all vessels by which the unthinkable is normalized for the public. Pushed to the extreme it is a tool for mass destruction; organized and bureaucratic. In its most seemingly insignificant form, ritualized pain and suffering can be found in a supermarket, intertwined in our everyday lives. How is one meant to understand the nature of ‘evil’ in our current condition?
Participating artists: Julia Grame/Thijs Kauffmann/Dimitri C Madimin/David KC Moir/Leonard van Munster/Henny Overbeek/Isa Tenhaeff/Amy Wong
