Rewinding Internationalism

Press rewind and you go back to a part of a song or a scene in a film. Something happens in the act of rewinding though. The magnetic tape of a cassette or VHS gets scrambled. The section of the song, now replayed out of sequence, becomes abstracted. If you continuously rewind and replay—to borrow the title of susan pui san lok / lok pui san’s new work in this exhibition—the recorded fragment takes on completely new meanings. Within the context of an exhibition in dialogue with the 1990s, the term ‘rewinding’ is an invitation to revisit and rethink experiences and concepts once they have been ‘played’ out—to interpret them not as over, but as part of an ongoing present. 

‘Rewinding Internationalism’ is an exhibition-research project that engages with the construct of internationalism through multiple scenes. It includes five new commissions and a number of collaborative research projects, alongside loans and archival material from public and private collections. The departure point for the project is the 1990s—when internationalism was in a deep state of flux across both political and cultural contexts. Rather than represent a history of the decade, the exhibition brings different ‘ecologies’, as Félix Guattari would describe them, into relation with one another. Visual, archival and sonic associations allow evocations and implications to speak across the 1990s and today, defined as it is by deepening and ongoing ecological, bio and geopolitical crises - and when the idea of internationalism is again—is still—in flux. Finally, Rewinding Internationalism can be understood as an experiment in mobilising histories, knowledges and subjectivities through the form of exhibition making.

Rewinding Internationalism is organised in the framework of Our Many Europes, a four-year programme organised by the museum confederation L’Internationale and its partners, and co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.

Featuring works by: 
Christine Baeumler, Act Up-Barcelona, Belkis Ayón Manso, Nadiah Bamadhaj, Cecilia Barriga*, Miguel Benlloch, CADA, Tony Cokes, Betsy Damon, Eugenio Dittborn, Les Diables Bleus, Diamela Eltit, Gorgona Group, Beth Grossman, Dai Guangyu, Félix Guattari, Lubaina Himid and Magda Stawarska*, Julije Knifer, Ivan Kožarić, Li Jixiang, Chengying Liu, susan pui san lok / lok pui san*, Miguel D. Norambuena, Miguel Parra Urrutia, Olu Oguibe, Didem Pekün*, Pejvak*, Wang Peng, Nelly Richard, Christian Rodriguez / CEPSS, Sandra Rylvin Rinaudo, Lotty Rosenfeld, Allan Sekula, Semsar Siahaan, Lamnu Suri, Norbert van Onna, Yin Xiuzhen, Zeng Xun. 
*New work

Research projects
AIDS Anarchive developed with Equipo re (Aimar Arriola, Nancy Garin and Linda Valdés), Revista de Crítica Cultural, The Three Ecologies and Internationalist Feminisms developed with Paulina E. Varas; Keepers of the Waters (Chengdu and Lhasa, China, 1995–1996) developed with Sebastian Cichocki; Contemporary Art of the Non-Aligned Countries. Unity in Diversity in International Art (Jakarta, 1995), developed with Bojana Piškur, Grace Samboh and Rachel Surijata; ADN (Association pour la Démocratie à Nice), with Carnavals Independents and Les Diables Bleus (1991–2004).

Curator: Nick Aikens
Scenography: Natascha Leonie Simons
Graphic Design: Sarah Tilley
Project Leader: Inge Borsje

Opening programme: Includes a discussion amongst fifteen contributors to the project, introductory remarks by Nick Aikens, Sara Buraya Boned and Charles Esche, and a performance conceived by Betsy Damon. All welcome.

Publication: The exhibition will be accompanied by a publication with contributions by Nick Aikens, Sara Buraya Boned, Pablo Martinez, Bojana Piškur and Grace Samboh as well as extensive images from the exhibition. 

Partners
A first iteration of the project was presented at Newtwerk Aalst (2022) and will be further developed for Villa Arson, Nice (2023)