“WE HAVE TO GET RID OF THIS IDEA THAT FASCISM IS MADNESS. IT’S AN AGENDA, A POLITICAL ONE.” KADER ATTIA IN CONVERSATION WITH JOHANNES ODENTHAL
Deneth Piumakshi Veda Arachchige, Self-Portrait as Restitution – from a Feminist Point of View, 2020, 3D SLA print of the artist’s body.
This year’s Berlin Biennale, curated by Kader Attia, is based on his concept of “repair”. As the mission statement claims: “Colonialism continues to impact the present, long after the achievement of political independence by people in the Global South. Colonial violence, fascism, and capitalist exploitation continue, persisting in ever-new forms. Kader Attia looks back on more than two decades of decolonial engagement. Throughout his practice, repair has emerged as a mode of cultural resistance, a form of agency that finds expression in diverse practices and fields of knowledge.” In conversation with Johannes Odenthal, he delineates the basic tenets of the thinking that feeds into his concept of the entanglement between colonialism, fascism, and capitalism. The talk took place just days before Russian troops invaded Ukraine. Kader Attia’s reflections on colonialism – and its long life after formal decolonisation – take on added urgency in the face of an undisguised imperialism that, until recently, had seemed unthinkable in this blunt form.
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