History Will Repeat Itself

In recent years, there has been a noticeable increase in so-called "re-enactments" of historical situations or events in the field of contemporary fine (media) arts. Re-enactments reproduce historical occurrences in a variety of interactive forms which enable viewers to participate in what feels like a live, close-up experience of history. However, these re-enactments actually complicate the problem they claim to be solving. How can one capture the "reality" of a historical event in a world where reality has long been depicted through the media? This exhibition gathered various forms of current artistic re-enactments and traced their historic development in order to present earlier significant positions beginning in the 1920s.

Artistic director: Inke Arns
Artists: Guy Ben-Ner, Walter Benjamin, Irina Botea, C-Level, Daniela Comani, Jeremy Deller, Rod Dickinson, Nikolai Evreinov, Omer Fast, Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard, Heike Gallmeier, Felix Gmelin, Pierre Huyghe, Evil Knievel, Korpys/Loeffler, Robert Longo, Tom McCarthy, Frédéric Moser / Philippe Schwinger, Collier Schorr, Tabea Sternberg, Kerry Tribe, T. R. Uthco & Ant Farm, Artur Zmijewski.

Venues and schedule:
PHOENIX Halle, Dortmund: 7 Jul. - 23 Sep. 2007
KW Institute of Contemporary Art, Berlin: 18 Nov. 2007 - 13 Jan. 2008
Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland: 15 Feb. 2008 - 13 Apr. 2008