NO ONE'S ARK

When we speak of an ark, many images and stories spring to mind, but so do a number of questions: Who is granted access? What is taken on board, and what is left behind? Which relations unfold on the ark? Would a social order emerge, and if so, what would it look like? And perhaps most crucially: Where would the ’ark’ be heading – if it moves at all?

When the Ark is conceived as a bunker, or conversely, the bunker as an Ark, our perceptions shift. A subtle tension arises between the ‘bunker’ and the ‘ark’: the bunker remains bound to the sediments of history, whilst the ark is devoted to the designs of indeterminate futures. It may promise escape or salvation, but above all it functions as a fleeting moment in which a polyphony emerges without coalescing into unity.

The exhibition in the former bunker, initiated by Mischa Kuball, provides 28 young artists from the KHM with a space to exhibit works that explore the tension between the ark and the bunker.

We would like to thank Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf for its support.