EXHIBITION
MONOCULTURE – A Recent History
29.05–13.09.2020
The exhibition MONOCULTURE – A Recent History begins from the principle that any understanding of multiculture, should necessitate an investigation of 'monoculture'. In these times when 'culture' itself has become a loaded word, as a site of contention between the conception of one's culture in opposition to those of others, and when the COVID-19 pandemic exposes the vulnerability of our globalised world, we wish to open up the question of what kind of society, and cultural space we want. To da so, we focus on the concept of 'monoculture', which, can be defined as the homogeneous expression of a single social or ethnic group. But rather than looking at the false dichotomy with multiculture, we wish to gain a more complex understanding of monoculture, by approaching it from social, ideological, philosophical and linguistic perspectives. Monoculture – A Recent History brings together art from the last one hundred years, to consider the impetus for the monocultural self-image, and how this has been reflected in artistic work as well as in propaganda and philosophy.
In addition to the dominant ideologies of the 20th century — with Nazism as the most extreme manifestation — examples of monoculturalism that have arisen from emancipatory or utopian imperatives are also addressed, such as artificial universal languages like Esperanto, and the Négritude movement, that emerged in parallel with decolonisation in Senegal. Philosophically, our research for Monoculture — A Recent History is based on the notion of 'ambiguity' — as developed in the work of thinkers such as Simone de Beauvoir, Julia Kristeva and the under-recognised Polish-Austrian psychoanalyst Else Frenkel-Brunswik — as a counterweight to unambiguous interpretations of reality and cultural homogeneity that can come with monoculture.
Art can be a reflection of the ambiguity of the human condition. With the inclusion of ambiguity, artistically and philosophically-speaking, in this exhibition, we also wish to look at what practices, values, and ways of living or perceiving might be excluded by the formation of a monoculture. What might it mean for citizenship and democracy, for the tolerance and intolerance towards diversity, for the search for common ground, for creativity, and for cultural institutions today?
Artists include: Hannah Höch, Lovis Corinth, Karl Hofer, George Grosz, Carol Rama, Werner Peiner, Belgian Institute for World Affairs, Joseph Beuys, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Åsa Sonjasdotter, Andy Warhol, Nicole, Hüseyin Bahri Alptekin, Haseeb Ahmed, Sven Augustijnen, Candida Höfer, Papa Ibra Tall, Maryam Najd, David Blandy, Oxana Shachko, Matti Braun, Jos de Gruyter & Harald Thys, Luc Deleu, Jimmie Durham, Catherine Opie, Charlotte Posenenske, Public Movement, Philip Guston, Mladen Stilinović, N. S. Harsha, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Rasheed Araeen, Ibrahim Mahama, Kerry James Marshall, Vincent Meessen, Renzo Martens/CATPC, Danny Matthys, Jonas Staal, Sille Storihle, Makhmut Usmanovich Usmanov, Nicoline van Harskamp, Dimitri Venkov, Plus artefacts from several cultural archives: the Arthur Langerman Archives for Research into Visual Anti-Semitism (ALAVA), and the cultural archives of Flanders: AMSAB – Institute for Social History; Liberas, the heritage centre for the history of the freedom ideal; KADOC Documentation and Research Centre on Religion, Culture and Society; and ADVN – Archive and Research Centre for Flemish Nationalism.
Exhibition curated by Nav Haq, Associate Director, M HKA
MONOCULTURE – A Recent History is part of ‘Our Many Europes’, a project of the confederation ‘L’Internationale’.
"Every single room of this amazing exhibition functions in a similar way, though with its own specificity: Mapping underlying ideological dichotomies through the combination of the works, the lighting, and the architecture, the juxtapositions show unexpected nuances, sketching an incredibly dense and accurate portrait of our times, accounting for their inner complexities. Presenting the works of forty-two artists next to some famous, controversial, or underestimated theoretical books, magazines, and exhibition catalogues (by the likes of Benedict Anderson, Simone de Beauvoir, G. K. Chesterton, and Friedrich Nietzsche) and improbable but revealing items (A Record from Ronald Reagan to All Californians, distributed for his 1966 gubernatorial campaign), this exhibition is as intense as a whole biennial, while occupying only one level of the museum: a rare stroke of genius." - Yoann Van Parys, ARTFORUM
Read a walk-through the exhibition MONOCULTURE – A Recent History , with Nick Aikens and Nav Haq in conversation, published on L'Internationale online platform.
Click here to browse the digital scan of the exhibition.
INSTALLATION VIEWS
Hüseyin Bahri Alptekin
Global Digestion, c. 1980–2007
Digital prints
145 x 395 cm
Collection M HKA
Photo: M HKA
Rasheed Araeen
Nine, 1968
Acrylic on wood
(9x) 61 × 61 × 61 cm
Courtesy the artist
Photo credit: M HKA
Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
Nourish the Talented, 2003
Oil and acrylic on canvas
86 x 71 cm
Courtesy of the artist, Corvi-Mora, London and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
Photo credit: M HKA
George Grosz
De Schrijver Walter Mehring, 1926
Oil on canvas
110 x 79.5 cm (unframed)
Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerpen
© SABAM Belgium, 2020, George Grosz, De schrijver Walter Mehring, inv.no. 2454, KMSKA
Photo credit: M HKA
Ibrahim Mahama
On Monumental Silences, 2018
Rubber
210 x 60 x 80 cm
Collection M HKA, Antwerp / Collection Flemish Community
Photo credit: M HKA
Carol Rama
Marta La Cagona, 1940
Watercolour on paper
24 x 18 cm
Private Collection, Turin
© Archivio Carol Rama, Torino
Photo: Beppe Giardino
Oxana Shachko
Untitled, 2016
tempera, egg yolk, gold leaf, wood
40 x 30.4 x 3.5 cm
Estate of Oxana Shachko
Photo credit: M HKA
Mladen Stilinović
An Artist Who Cannot Speak English Is No Artist, 1992
acrylic on artificial silk
140 x 246 cm
Courtesy Galerie Martin Janda
Photo credit: M HKA
Papa Ibra Tall
Semeuse d'étoiles, c. 1970s
Tapestry in textile
298 x 291 cm
Courtesy the artist, KADIST collection
Photo credit: M HKA
Andy Warhol
The American Indian (Russell Means), 1976
Silkscreen ink and synthetic polymer paint on canvas
127 x 106.7 cm
The König Family Collection
Photo credit: M HKA
Jimmie Durham
Tlunh Datsi, 1984
Skull, feathers, turquoise, acrylic paint, shells, wood
103×91×81 cm
The “M” Art Foundation
Photo: Wim Van Eesbeek
Matti Braun
Bunta Garbo, 2002
Inkjet print on paper mounted on foamboard
125 x 89 x 12 cm (each)
Courtesy of the artist; BQ, Berlin; and Esther Schipper, Berlin
Photo: Wim Van Eesbeek