RE RE- RE: | MA Curating and Collections, Chelsea College of Arts, UAL

About

MA Curating and Collections are happy to present their degree show informed by Hannah Arendt’s influential book The Human Condition, published in 1958. With new commissions from Tim Etchells and Mark Titchner, and contributions by Roy Ascott, Sarah Bodman, Victoria Lomasko, Jorge Martín García & Yukari Sakata and Polit-Sheer-Form Office, RE RE- RE: presents the possibility of an open conversation and aims to establish itself as a platform to explore the infinite potential of collectivity. In the publication that inspired the exhibition, Arendt examined the differentiations between labour, work and action; power, violence and strength; property and wealth. In the ever-growing state of uncertainty and helplessness that governs the current political climate, it seems to have become, again and increasingly, a pertinent theory to look at. 

The exhibition itself serves as a potential space of appearance for diverse ideas and themes. Re stands for reference and the introduction of ideas into a dialogue. Re- is a prefix that can be applied to suggest the process of renewal and repetition. It references the structural mechanics of the English language. Re: stands for reply and the introduction also calls forth the notion of replying or response in an email thread – drawing Arendt’s concept into the modern sphere. 

To accompany the exhibition, a publication will be launched which was conceived as a parallel platform for artists and intellectuals to reflect on Arendt’s relevance in contemporary society, through the lens of their personal practice. With a foreword by Lynton Talbot, contributors include David Gothard, Weiping Hu, Narelle Jubelin, Memo Kosemen, Sophie Loss, Fereshte Moosavi, Kata Oltai, Fabian Peake, Francesco Pedraglio, Carlos Saavedra, Cally Spooner and Nahal Tajadod.