'What can be demanded of a new generation, if its parents never dream at all?' The follow-up of last year's congress focuses on the notion of new horizons in politics and art after 1989 - and speakers were not afraid to ask provocative questions.
In the exhibition ACT V: POWER ALONE in Witte de With the Turkish artist Canan Senol shows the intriguing video-animation Exemplary. In her work she addresses the role of religious, political and patriarchal foundations that structure everyday life. Ingrid Commandeur interviewed Canan Senol in Istanbul.
In public museums the damage that has been done over the years by nationalist ideoligies van be viewed. They reveal both the blind spots and the gynnastics that are used in attempt to cover them up.
Museums and school textbooks complement each other in the construction of retrospective mythologies on both sides of the border. They compete for the posession of historical truth by equating nation (ethnic group) with state.
The rows of glorified heros and victims follow the logic of propaganda, which blacks out everything that might change the narrative.
