History Will Repeat Itself. Strategies of re-enactment in contemporary (media) art and performance

In contemporary (media) art there has been an almost ‘uncanny’ longing for the performative repetition or re-creation of historical situations and events. The exhibition History Will Repeat Itself focuses on current strategies of re-enactment in contemporary (media) art and performance, and presents the positions and strategies of 30 international artists. It is a cooperation between Hartware MedienKunstVerein in Dortmund, and KW Institute for Contemporary Art Berlin, and is the first comprehensive exhibition in Germany dealing with the topic, or strategy, of re-enactment.

games. Computer games by artists

Muntadas – On Translation: Das Museum

So wie die Dinge liegen (as matters stand)

hartware medien kunst verein will be presenting the exhibition "So wie die Dinge liegen" (as matters stand) from 1 May to 4 July; the exhibition was conceived by Hans D. Christ and Iris Dressler as part of "scene: schweiz in nrw", the 37th International Culture Days of Dortmund with Switzerland. "So wie die Dinge liegen" comprises works of photography and video, which explore the spatial concepts of the modern-day subject, i.e. its emplacement in the world, in a variety of different ways.

nicht weit von der wirklichkeit entfernt (not far from reality)

The banal and everyday, the unusual and the suspicious are the motives inspiring the artistic works in the exhibition “nicht weit von der wirklichkeit entfernt” (not far from reality). Here everyday banalities constantly intrude into unusual events and the exceptional intrudes into the banal.

no one ever dies here, no one has a head

Say Hello to Peace and Tranquillity

Control Panels. Programming as artistic practice

Software artists develop computer programs that exceed the boundaries and possibilities of conventional software or reduce their functions to absurdity. The focus is not on the perfect and optimal function of the programs, but rather on the programs' "dis.functionality" and momentum, which is presented as a playful experience.

unstable narratives

Stories - personal narratives, unstable reflections, attempts to define identity and points of view – are streaming from everywhere. They all resist one single interpretation. Everybody has a story, and everybody claims the right to be listened to. Besides this multiplicity of narrations, one and the same narration is expressed in many different ways. What makes these stories unique? To what extent does the position of the narrative and narrator coincide? The exhibition "unstable narratives" deals with these and further questions.

Still | Life

dialogues & stories