THE MINSK Kunsthaus in Potsdam is showing the group exhibition Soft Power, which presents textile design as an artistic means of expression that can be used to question power relations, until August 11, 2024.
The exhibition understands textiles not only as handcrafted or industrially produced objects, but also as part of systems. This includes the production and trade networks that move textiles and people across the globe, as well as the histories, cartographies and cosmologies that unfold around them. Their use as an integral part of our daily routines and particular rituals will also be explored. The exhibition is divided into three interwoven chapters.
William Kentridge, Germanie et des pays Adjacents du Sud et de L'Est (Pylon Lady), 2007/08, Hasso Plattner Collection, Courtesy of the artists and Goodman Gallery
The "Invisible Hands" chapter focuses on the production conditions of textiles and their raw materials - including the history of the Leipzig cotton mill and VEB Vowetex in Plauen. The works in the chapter "Breaking patterns" refuse to follow formal guidelines and show how textile art can question social norms and power mechanisms by breaking through the seemingly endless repetitions of a fixed order. The chapter "Threads of Ancestors" deals with the question of how textiles are used to commemorate those who have gone before us - be they direct ancestors or those whose stories and lifestyles influence our own realities. Just as individual threads can combine to form fabrics and larger networks, the historical and contemporary works in this chapter refer to past traditions that continue to have an impact today.
Wilder Alison, a cat occurs/N Curse: Hel/Otrope Shades-Curls-, 2023 Courtesy Wilder Alison and GAA Gallery, Cologne, New York, Photo: On White Wall Studio
Soft Power shows works by Magdalena Abakanowicz, Caroline Achaintre, Wilder Alison, El Anatsui, Leonor Antunes, Ouassila Arras, Rufina Bazlova, Kevin Beasley, Mariana Chkonia, Edith Dekyndt, Claus Dobberke, Toni Ebel, Gee's Bend Quiltmakers (Ella Mae Irby, Candis Mosely Pettway, Qunnie Pettway), Philipp Gufler, William Kentridge, Maria Lai, Joanna Louca, Manuel Mathieu, Rosemary Mayer, Elrid Metzkes, Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Sandra Mujinga, Gulnur Mukazhanova, Otobong Nkanga, Willem de Rooij, Ramona Schacht, Gabriele Stötzer, Sung Tieu, Rosemarie Trockel, Johanna Unzueta, Hamid Zénati and others.
In addition, a selection of wall hangings and archive material is dedicated to the history of the Potsdam Circle for Artistic Textile Design and its position in the state-sponsored leisure program of the GDR, the so-called "artistic popular creation".
March 16 to August 11, 2024
