Depictions of Excessive Force – between Disturbance and Attraction
A digital exhibition
25. – 30.10.2024
with
Christoph Bangert
Arlette Bashizi
Vincent Haiges
Kubra Khademi
Enter the exhibition
Please note: The contributions contain explicit aspects of violence.
How can depictions of violence help create visibility and raise awareness of conflicts? Are there limits to what can be shown and where do they lie? How can and should psychological suffering be visualized? With the digital exhibition, which is presented on the occasion of the dialogue panel ‘Depictions of Excessive Force. Between Disturbance and Attraction’ in cooperation with the interdisciplinary research center TraCe (‘Transformations of Political Violence’), the Kunsthalle Giessen is putting a focus on these questions.
We present the photo series ‘Survivors’ by the Congolese documentary photographer Arlette BASHIZI, the documentation of the performance ‘Armor’ (2015, Kabul, Afghanistan) by the Afghan artist Kubra Khademi, who lives in exile in Paris, photographs by the internationally active war photographer Vincent Haiges and an excerpt from the photo book ‘War Porn’ by the war reporter Christoph Bangert.
The exhibition is accessible via a QR code, the Kunsthalle Giessen Instagram account and the Kunsthalle website
We present the photo series ‘Survivors’ by the Congolese documentary photographer Arlette BASHIZI, the documentation of the performance ‘Armor’ (2015, Kabul, Afghanistan) by the Afghan artist Kubra Khademi, who lives in exile in Paris, photographs by the internationally active war photographer Vincent Haiges and an excerpt from the photo book ‘War Porn’ by the war reporter Christoph Bangert.
The exhibition is accessible via a QR code, the Kunsthalle Giessen Instagram account and the Kunsthalle website
The online exhibition accompanies the dialog panel
DEPICTIONS OF EXCESSIVE VIOLENCE – BETWEEN DISTURBANCE AND ATTRACTION and is a cooperation with
TraCe Research Center Transformations of Political Violence
TraCe is supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
DEPICTIONS OF EXCESSIVE VIOLENCE – BETWEEN DISTURBANCE AND ATTRACTION and is a cooperation with
TraCe Research Center Transformations of Political Violence
TraCe is supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
Participants
Christoph Bangert
Christoph Bangert (*1978 in Daun in the Eifel) works as a photographer, author and educator. He studied photojournalism and documentary photography at the International Center of Photography in New York. Since graduating, he has photographed in Afghanistan, Palestine, Lebanon, Japan, Nigeria and Iraq, among other places.
His pictures have appeared in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zeit, Cicero, GEO, Stern, Neon, Spiegel, Time, Newsweek, New Yorker and the New York Times Magazine. On assignment for the New York Times, he documented the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq from 2005 to 2013. His work has been awarded the World Press Photo Award among others.
Bangert is the author of several books, including War Porn (Kehrer 2014), hello camel (Kehrer 2016), Rumors of War (Kehrer 2021) and The Fotobus Manual (Eigensinn 2022). He is a professor of photography at the Hanover University of Applied Sciences and Arts and founder of the Fotobus Society, one of the largest non-profit photography student projects worldwide.
His pictures have appeared in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zeit, Cicero, GEO, Stern, Neon, Spiegel, Time, Newsweek, New Yorker and the New York Times Magazine. On assignment for the New York Times, he documented the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq from 2005 to 2013. His work has been awarded the World Press Photo Award among others.
Bangert is the author of several books, including War Porn (Kehrer 2014), hello camel (Kehrer 2016), Rumors of War (Kehrer 2021) and The Fotobus Manual (Eigensinn 2022). He is a professor of photography at the Hanover University of Applied Sciences and Arts and founder of the Fotobus Society, one of the largest non-profit photography student projects worldwide.
Arlette Bashizi
Arlette BASHIZI is an award winning documentary photographer and photojournalist born and currently based in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo. She focuses on topics related to health, environment and culture, by keeping human beings, especially women and youth, at the center of her stories.
In recent years, she has delved into topics ranging from the extraction of rare minerals to satisfy the Western demand for electric vehicles, to the repercussions of the conflict in Congo DRC in Tigray, and the destructive consequences of climate change in the region. Her project “Survivors” has been awarded in the 2024 World Press Photo Contest.
In 2020, Bashizi contributed to the collaborative project Congo in Conversation by Finbarr O’Reilly, which marked the beginning of her professional career. Since then she has been working for newspapers such as The New York Times, The Washington Post and The New Humanitarian. She is a contributor to the news agency Reuters and works as a consultant with international organizations.
In recent years, she has delved into topics ranging from the extraction of rare minerals to satisfy the Western demand for electric vehicles, to the repercussions of the conflict in Congo DRC in Tigray, and the destructive consequences of climate change in the region. Her project “Survivors” has been awarded in the 2024 World Press Photo Contest.
In 2020, Bashizi contributed to the collaborative project Congo in Conversation by Finbarr O’Reilly, which marked the beginning of her professional career. Since then she has been working for newspapers such as The New York Times, The Washington Post and The New Humanitarian. She is a contributor to the news agency Reuters and works as a consultant with international organizations.
Vincent Haiges
Fig.: Vincent Haiges
Vincent Haiges (b.1988) has spent the last years documenting armed conflict, human rights violation and migration across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Currently based in Berlin, Haiges has worked for editorial clients including Die Zeit, De Morgen, Foreign Policy, The Guardian and Volkskrant. He has collaborated with various NGOs and academic institutions such as Médecins Sans Frontières, The United Nations Development Program and the University of Hamburg.
Haiges’ photography has been exhibited at the London Design Biennale (UK), Baghdad Contemporary Arts Festival (Iraq), Artizon Museum (Japan), and Bethanien Kunsthaus (Germany).
Vincent holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science from SOAS and regularly shares his knowledge through public speaking.
Haiges on his work: ‘I think the aim is to make the horror imaginable for viewers through stories. To imagine what it means to live in such a situation.’
Currently based in Berlin, Haiges has worked for editorial clients including Die Zeit, De Morgen, Foreign Policy, The Guardian and Volkskrant. He has collaborated with various NGOs and academic institutions such as Médecins Sans Frontières, The United Nations Development Program and the University of Hamburg.
Haiges’ photography has been exhibited at the London Design Biennale (UK), Baghdad Contemporary Arts Festival (Iraq), Artizon Museum (Japan), and Bethanien Kunsthaus (Germany).
Vincent holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science from SOAS and regularly shares his knowledge through public speaking.
Haiges on his work: ‘I think the aim is to make the horror imaginable for viewers through stories. To imagine what it means to live in such a situation.’
Kubra Khademi
Fig.: Kubra Khademi
Kubra Khademi is a Hazara artist and performer from Afghanistan born in 1989. Through her practice, Kubra Khademi explores her life as a refugee and as a woman. She studied Fine Arts at Kabul University, before joining Beaconhouse University in Lahore, Pakistan. There, she began creating public performances, a practice she continued on her return to Kabul, in response to a male-dominated society with extreme patriarchal politics. After the execution of her performance known as Armor in 2015, she was forced to flee the country. Taking refuge in France, she obtained French citizenship in 2020. Today, she lives and works in Paris. In 2016, she received the title of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Nominated for the Emerige Revelations in 2019, she is the 2020 winner of the 1% art market of the city of Paris.
Her work has been shown in numerous public and private institutions, including the Ludwig Museum (Cologne, 2023), the Sydney Biennial (2024), the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2021), the Fondation Kadist (Paris, 2022), the Collection Lambert (Avignon, 2022), the Mill6 Foundation (Hong Kong, 2023), Musée de l’Immigration (2022), Bangkok Biennale (2020), Institut du Monde Arabe (2022), Mediterranean Museum Stockholm (2023), Les Abattoirs, Musées – Frac Occitanie (2023), MuCEM (2019), Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles (2019), Fondation Fiminco (2021), Kunsthalle Dessau (2023), Kunsthalle Thun (2022). In 2022, the Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern presented her first solo exhibition in Europe, and for the occasion published a trilingual monograph in French, English and German.
Since 2016, Latitudes Contemporaines in Lille has been supporting the development of her performance projects. Her latest artistic creations have been presented at the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, the Bauhaus Dessau, Documenta in Kassel, the Centre Pompidou-Metz, the Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern, the Palais de Tokyo, the TNG in Lyon, the Condition Publique (Roubaix), the Musée de la Danse (Rennes), the Bergen International Festival, the Collection Lambert and in the public space of international cities (Paris, Brussels, Lille, Bordeaux, Geneva, etc.).
Her work has been shown in numerous public and private institutions, including the Ludwig Museum (Cologne, 2023), the Sydney Biennial (2024), the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2021), the Fondation Kadist (Paris, 2022), the Collection Lambert (Avignon, 2022), the Mill6 Foundation (Hong Kong, 2023), Musée de l’Immigration (2022), Bangkok Biennale (2020), Institut du Monde Arabe (2022), Mediterranean Museum Stockholm (2023), Les Abattoirs, Musées – Frac Occitanie (2023), MuCEM (2019), Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles (2019), Fondation Fiminco (2021), Kunsthalle Dessau (2023), Kunsthalle Thun (2022). In 2022, the Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern presented her first solo exhibition in Europe, and for the occasion published a trilingual monograph in French, English and German.
Since 2016, Latitudes Contemporaines in Lille has been supporting the development of her performance projects. Her latest artistic creations have been presented at the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, the Bauhaus Dessau, Documenta in Kassel, the Centre Pompidou-Metz, the Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern, the Palais de Tokyo, the TNG in Lyon, the Condition Publique (Roubaix), the Musée de la Danse (Rennes), the Bergen International Festival, the Collection Lambert and in the public space of international cities (Paris, Brussels, Lille, Bordeaux, Geneva, etc.).