The point of departure for the exhibition and accompanying publication “Details” is Slovenian theorist Rastko Močnik’s collection of texts entitled How Much Fascism?. In the midst of the disintegration of Yugoslavia, Močnik related the conflicts and the rise of fascist forces to the structural consequences of the introduction and reconstruction of peripheral capitalism. Today, with an alarming right-wing ascendancy throughout Europe, we should direct our gaze beyond the ‘peripheries’ and towards the core of liberal democracy. Močnik’s basic postulate remains — the question is not ‘fascism — yes or no?’ but ‘How much fascism?’.
Open manifestations of fascism are fairly easy to recognize (just as more and more of them are appearing), but we need to turn our attention to the silent fascism that is becoming normalized through the systematic violence seeping into the laws and everyday administration practices of the nation states, and to assess the mechanisms of oppression and the various symptoms of contemporary fascism that are being presented as unavoidable, pragmatic necessities. In other words, we have to look at the details.
The exhibition showed the works by Lene Berg, Burak Delier, Avi Mograbi, Trevor Paglen, Superflex, Milica Tomić and was curated by What, How and for Whom/WHW at Bergen Kunsthall.
The publication gathers newly commissioned texts by Lene Berg “A Few Words about Norwegian Products”; Mikkel Bolt Rasmussen “Collective Hatred: Xenophobia, Sex + Some Fascism; or Why Breivik Loves Denmark”; Hito Steyerl “Let’s Talk About Fascism”; Gáspár M. Tamás “On Post-Fascism, How Citizenship is Becoming an Exclusive Priviledge” (published in 2000) + “A Postcript to Post-Fascism; Preliminary Thesis to System of Fear”; and WHW “Details”. It was designed by Dejan Kršić.
Published by: Bergen Kunsthall, 2011
Editors: What, How and for Whom/WHW
Artist: Lene Berg, Burak Delier, Avi Mograbi, Trevor Paglen, Superflex, Milica Tomić
Texts: Lene Berg, Mikkel Bolt Rasmussen, Hito Steyerl, Gáspár M. Tamás and What, How and for Whom/ WHW
Design: Dejan Kršić / WHW
Pages: 72
Illustrations: 29
ISBN: 978-82-93101-05-5
Softcover: 17*24
Language: English
Price: 150 NOK / 19 Euro