Contour Biennale 8
Polyphonic Worlds: Justice as Medium
11 Mar - 21 May 2017
Curator: Natasha Ginwala
Contour Biennale 8 Polyphonic Worlds: Justice as Medium evolves in drawing relations between contemporary artistic practice and the course of social justice against the 400-year old juridical past of Mechelen’s Great Council—Europe’s first courthouse. From the vestiges of this judicial infrastructure, what might it mean to survey the field of social justice and its implements as media archaeology such that justice itself is considered a "medium" that is simultaneously a performative, ethical and aesthetic operation.
With the limits of justice now unravelling in a volatile crisis of ethics in the global present, Contour Biennale 8 engages a polyphonic view that recalls the acoustic history of the Lowlands while presenting a notational landscape that is multiphonic, carrying overtones that are heard as a plural consciousness, and at times as states of discord. This biennial sets out to question the preconceived boundaries between the perception of legality and illegality within today’s experience of statehood.
The eighth biennale edition includes several newly commissioned film-based works and artistic projects by 25 artists and collectives.
Artists and Collectives
Adelita Husni-Bey (*1985 in Milan (Italy), lives in New York)
Agency/Agentschap/Agence (*1992, based in Brussels (Belgium))
Ana Torfs (*1963 in Mortsel (Belgium), lives in Brussels)
Arvo Leo (*1981 in Aotearoa, lives in Amsterdam)
Basir Mahmood (*1985 in Lahore (Pakistan), lives in Lahore and Amsterdam)
Beatriz Santiago Muñoz (*1972 in San Juan (Puerto Rico), lives in San Juan)
Cooking Sections
Council (Grégory Castera & Sandra Terdjman) (*2013, based in Paris (France))
Eric Baudelaire (*1973 in Salt Lake City (Utah, United States), lives in Paris)
Filipa César (*1975 in Porto (Portugal), lives in Berlin) and Louis Henderson (*1983 in Norwich (United Kingdom), lives in Paris and Lisbon)
Ho Tzu Nyen (*1976 in Singapore, lives in Singapore)
inhabitants (Mariana Silva & Pedro Neves Marques) (*2015, based in New York (United States))
Judy Radul (*1962 in Lillooet (Canada), lives in Vancouver and Berlin)
Karrabing Film Collective (*2010 based in the Northern Territory (Australia))
Lawrence Abu Hamdan (*1985 in Amman (Jordan), lives in Beirut)
Madonna Staunton (*1938 in Murwillumbah (Australia), lives in Brisbane)
Otobong Nkanga (*1974 in Kano (Nigeria), lives in Antwerp)
Pallavi Paul (*1986 in New Delhi (India), lives in New Delhi)
Pedro Gómez-Egaña (*1976 in Bucaramanga (Colombia), lives in Bergen and Copenhagen)
Rana Hamadeh (*1983 in Beirut (Lebanon), lives in Rotterdam)
Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam (*1959 in New Delhi (India) and *1959 in Darjeeling (India), live in Dharamshala)
Rossella Biscotti (*1978 in Molfetta (Italy), lives in Brussels)
Susanne M. Winterling (*1970 in Rehau (Germany), lives in Berlin)
Trevor Paglen (*1974 in Maryland (United States), lives in Berlin)
Trinh Thi Nguyen (*1973 in Hanoi (Vietnam), lives in Hanoi)
Contour Biennale 8 Polyphonic Worlds: Justice as Medium evolves in drawing relations between contemporary artistic practice and the course of social justice against the 400-year old juridical past of Mechelen’s Great Council—Europe’s first courthouse. From the vestiges of this judicial infrastructure, what might it mean to survey the field of social justice and its implements as media archaeology such that justice itself is considered a "medium" that is simultaneously a performative, ethical and aesthetic operation.
With the limits of justice now unravelling in a volatile crisis of ethics in the global present, Contour Biennale 8 engages a polyphonic view that recalls the acoustic history of the Lowlands while presenting a notational landscape that is multiphonic, carrying overtones that are heard as a plural consciousness, and at times as states of discord. This biennial sets out to question the preconceived boundaries between the perception of legality and illegality within today’s experience of statehood.
The eighth biennale edition includes several newly commissioned film-based works and artistic projects by 25 artists and collectives.
Artists and Collectives
Adelita Husni-Bey (*1985 in Milan (Italy), lives in New York)
Agency/Agentschap/Agence (*1992, based in Brussels (Belgium))
Ana Torfs (*1963 in Mortsel (Belgium), lives in Brussels)
Arvo Leo (*1981 in Aotearoa, lives in Amsterdam)
Basir Mahmood (*1985 in Lahore (Pakistan), lives in Lahore and Amsterdam)
Beatriz Santiago Muñoz (*1972 in San Juan (Puerto Rico), lives in San Juan)
Cooking Sections
Council (Grégory Castera & Sandra Terdjman) (*2013, based in Paris (France))
Eric Baudelaire (*1973 in Salt Lake City (Utah, United States), lives in Paris)
Filipa César (*1975 in Porto (Portugal), lives in Berlin) and Louis Henderson (*1983 in Norwich (United Kingdom), lives in Paris and Lisbon)
Ho Tzu Nyen (*1976 in Singapore, lives in Singapore)
inhabitants (Mariana Silva & Pedro Neves Marques) (*2015, based in New York (United States))
Judy Radul (*1962 in Lillooet (Canada), lives in Vancouver and Berlin)
Karrabing Film Collective (*2010 based in the Northern Territory (Australia))
Lawrence Abu Hamdan (*1985 in Amman (Jordan), lives in Beirut)
Madonna Staunton (*1938 in Murwillumbah (Australia), lives in Brisbane)
Otobong Nkanga (*1974 in Kano (Nigeria), lives in Antwerp)
Pallavi Paul (*1986 in New Delhi (India), lives in New Delhi)
Pedro Gómez-Egaña (*1976 in Bucaramanga (Colombia), lives in Bergen and Copenhagen)
Rana Hamadeh (*1983 in Beirut (Lebanon), lives in Rotterdam)
Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam (*1959 in New Delhi (India) and *1959 in Darjeeling (India), live in Dharamshala)
Rossella Biscotti (*1978 in Molfetta (Italy), lives in Brussels)
Susanne M. Winterling (*1970 in Rehau (Germany), lives in Berlin)
Trevor Paglen (*1974 in Maryland (United States), lives in Berlin)
Trinh Thi Nguyen (*1973 in Hanoi (Vietnam), lives in Hanoi)