"We are free to change the world and start something new in it." – Hannah Arendt
Richard Saltoun Gallery's year-long programme On Hannah Arendt: Eight Proposals for Exhibition looks to one of the most important thinkers of the post-war generation to confront some of the most pressing socio-political issues of our time.
Running from January 2021 until March 2022, the programme consists of eight exhibitions organized around the eight essays in Arendt's 1969 publication Between Past and Future: Eight Exercises in Political Thought and features more than 20 international artists from diverse backgrounds working across a range of media, many from outside the gallery's roster.
In January, 'The Modern Age' addresses themes of dislocation, statelessness and social alienation. With key works by Siah ARMAJANI, Thomas BAYRLE, Véronique FILOZOF, Vivienne KOORLAND and Jo SPENCE.
In March, 'The Concept of History,' a solo exhibition by Peter KENNARD highlights the artist's extraordinary contribution to politically informed art over the past 50 years.
In April, the group exhibition 'What is Authority?' examines structural antagonism and everyday discrimination. With work by Lili DUJOURIE, Everlyn NICODEMUS and Lerato SHADI.
From June, BRACHA L. Ettinger puts us in relation Arendt's question to the tragic fate of women in periods of war, especially the Holocaust, in 'What is Freedom?'.
In September 'The Crisis in Education' features a joint presentation between two female artists known for their embrace of photography, including Eleanor ANTIN and Siân DAVEY.
From October 'The Crisis in Culture' features a selection of drawings by Renate BERTLMANN, Annette MESSAGER's soft sculptures and an installation by Pamela ROSENKRATZ.
In December Truth & Politics is the penultimate exhibition in the gallery's year-long series dedicated to Hannah Arendt, featuring ULAY's polaroid series Black Judges (1992), Allan SEKULA's video projection Waiting For Tear Gas (1999/2000), together with three new specially commissioned sculptures by Aleksandra DOMANOVIĆ from her Worldometer series.
In February and March, the final exhibition, The Conquest of Space, will feature works by Sylvia PLIMACK MANGOLD, Elaine REICHEK, and Carey YOUNG.
Brazilian sound artist and music producer Laima LEYTON creates a new sound piece in response to each chapter of Arendt's Between Past and Future, available to experience on the gallery's website as part of Saltoun Online and during live events held throughout the programme. Titled Infinite past, infinite future and NOW, the series engages with themes of time, culture, truth and spirituality.