Until June 26, 2011 in Hannover, Germany
As a concept initially associated with biology, “growth” suggests something natural. However, if one follows the concept of growth as a metaphor borrowed from biology, one additionally encounters a second side that usually negates the metaphorical use. Organic growth is consistently defined by a natural border; it knows a state of being fully grown and is determined by the cycle of growth and decay. Stagnation, transience and renewal are part of the “natural,” but hardly find any metaphorical acceptance. Economic growth or technical development, for example, knows no boundary and no saturation.
The international exhibition project “On the Metaphor of Growth” brings together various strands of artistic dealings with different phenomena of growth to construct a tension field out of positive and negative connotations of growing, occasioning fundamental reflections. In the process, the artists’ designs — their reactions and answers to specific consequences of the idea of growth — form a matrix that enables the central position of the concept of growth in the social self-image to be experienced.
“On the Metaphor of Growth” is a cooperation between the Kunstverein Hannover, the Frankfurt Kunstverein and the Kunsthaus Baselland. Each of the three exhibitions place a different accent on artistic dealings with the concept of growth, demonstrating its present-day ambivalence in economic, biological and social contexts.
Artists: Michel Blazy, Peter Buggenhout, Armin Chodzinski, Dirk Fleischmann, Tue Greenfort, Karl Hans Janke, San Keller, Dan Peterman, Reynold Reynolds, Mika Rottenberg, Julika Rudelius, Gerda Steiner & Jörg Lenzlinger, Superflex, Rachel Sussman, Andreas Zybach.
Venue: Kunstverein Hannover, Sophienstraße 2, 30159 Hannover, Germany.
Opening Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 12.00-7.00pm, Sunday and on holidays 11.00am–7.00pm.
For more information visit: www.kunstverein-hannover.de.
