Unprecedented Times

Helen Cammock, William Kentridge’s The Centre for the Less Good Idea, Annette Messager, Rabih Mroué, Markus Schinwald, Marianna Simnett, Ania Soliman

Curated by Thomas D. Trummer

For the exhibition Unprecedented Times, Thomas D. Trummer is gathering together seven significant artists: Helen Cammock, William Kentridge and The Centre for the Less Good Idea, Annette Messager, Rabih Mroué, Markus Schinwald, Marianna Simnett and Ania Soliman are exhibiting works that were created during the corona crisis or beforehand, anticipating the event. 

This is art created in the heat of current times. Insights into the existential circumstances of the present await KUB visitors. During the summer weeks, Kunsthaus Bregenz is showing a special exhibition that traces the precariousness of life since the beginning of the corona crisis. 

It is the sciences that are attempting to offer solutions, but it is the arts that portray the predicaments of the crisis. Contemporary artists in particular are able to develop a feeling for changing moods, for fear and doubt. They create worlds “in the face of radical disorientation and loss” (according to the US-American philosopher Judith Butler in an interview). Kunsthaus Bregenz is an institution for contemporary art, which is why we are showing an exhibition during this extraordinary situation reflecting the absolute present. 

Unprecedented Times assembles works that have either emerged during the crisis or can be read as a premonition of it. There is much at stake: life together, the political community, the economic situation, ethical imperatives, the ego and existence. In view of the radical experience of a world that is very different to what was previously imaginable, there are attempts to withdraw and search for meaning. Some of the works depict silence and intimacy. Others map social consequences, the danger of political alienation, and the loss of democratic rights. And finally, there are also references to the apocalyptic dimension of the event, the breakdown. Outstanding contemporary artists have accepted a spontaneous invitation from KUB. We are proud to be able to show this exhibition now—as an impression of unprecedented times.

–Thomas D. Trummer