Proceeding in Brokenness

This event was formerly known as The Neganthropocene (part 1).

In times of climate crisis, and while democracies are eroding and infrastructures and social webs are breaking apart, the idea of repair is tempting. Repair promises to make things whole again, even if they have never worked properly and have only benefited a select few. Inspired by the idea of 'beyond repair' from artist Natascha Sadr Haghighian, this exhibition seeks to intervene in the repetition of repair fantasies and the assertion that things can and need to be fixed. It is hence interested in approaches to "living, thinking and feeling otherwise, through the brokenness." With the exception of reparation for colonial violence and injustice, Sadr Haghighian understands such approaches 'beyond repair' in opposition to current fascist instrumentalisations of declinism. However, the desire for alternatives to soothe the widespread feeling of crisis is not limited to the far right; it is also part of narratives that circulate in various social spheres and media. 

By contrast, this exhibition is drawn to the dynamics arising from a proceeding in brokenness, staying with scenes beyond repair and acknowledging their permanence. As Julietta Singh reminds us, the idea that we can simply move away from a moment of crisis or trauma and forget about the breaks that happened along the way is a fantasy in itself. One illustration of this is Singh's observation of how the pain of a severe injury continued to emerge in her body over time, living out "its afterlives". Lauren Berlant draws our attention to the ambivalence and transformative potential of the afterlives of the irreparable. These afterlives also involve transformation, which sets in slowly and can be inconvenient and difficult to bear. Proceeding in brokenness thus requires “transformational infrastructures,” which Berlant defines as “defenses against giving up in the face of overintensity and disorganization.”

The exhibition, together with a workshop and film program, will facilitate a conversation between different scenes beyond repair that allows us to engage with the ambivalences, difficulties as well as the critical hope that can lie in a proceeding in brokenness