art and politics

Is it just a coincidence that the Haus der Kunst has lately been running lots of programs and exhibitions by - mainly asian – artists who are good at turning their poetics into politics? Think of Indonesian garin nugroho, Indian amar kanwar and Thai apichatpong weerasethakul? And now we host Chinese Ai Weiwei? No, of course it’s no coincidence. I’m convinced that for those artists art spaces and art museums are excellent platforms to develop not only a free speech but also a new artistic language. Speaking with Alexander kluge, those artists are obliged to do what basically every bat does, i.e. they have to put their actions into opposition to a wall that reflects their echoes – and they have to use two ears at once – one that assesses the words of their very own voices, and one that listens to the answers of the wall. At the very least, this language has something to say, especially when compared to the statements of other artists such as Wim Delvoye who complained last august in the Flemish newspaper “de morgen” that Weiwei should not waste his time nor his art career doing politics.

Tags: art, Politics