US OR CHAOS

Franko B, David Brognon and Stéphanie Rollin, Erik Bulatov, Petr Davydtchenko, Democracia, Kendell Geers, Leon Golub, Teresa Margolles, Andrei Molodkin, Petr Pavlensky, Andres Serrano, Santiago Sierra and Nancy Spero.

a/political presents US OR CHAOS at BPS22, in Charleroi, Belgium. Largely comprising of a/political projects and works from their historical collection, the exhibition exposes the imbalance of power between citizen and state. 

The exhibition coincides with the launch of the book WE PROTECT YOU FROM YOURSELVES ed. Democracia and Felix Trautmann. A compilation of critical essays on the politics of the police. Published by Brumaria.

US OR CHAOS looks at citizens subjugated by the state. It exposes the repressive measures used to degrade and dehumanise agitators, who reject the rule of law through individual acts of resistance and extreme self-sacrifice. These moments of disobedience become political instruments, exposing the covert apparatus of power. Positioned side-by-side, they warn of chaos – a new radical system rising from beneath.
–Curator and a/political Collection Director, Becky Haghpanah-Shirwan

In the post 9/11 era of the “War on Terror,” the state has tightened its grip over its citizens and maintained order with an iron fist through the preservation of fear and paranoia. In reaction to the extremity of this reality, artists have turned towards the language of violence to fight for liberation. It is within this context that a/political presents US OR CHAOS at BPS22, located around 50 kilometres from Brussels, the de facto Capital of the European Union, as a statement against the normalization of exceptional politics. It presents the radical voices of individuals who confront the terror imposed by the state through the weaponisation of their artistic practice. US OR CHAOS also speaks of the consequences as artists fall victim to what philosopher Giorgio Agamben refers to as the “state of exception,” a paradigm whereby sovereign power is increased and the constitutional rights of the individual are reduced as justification for public security—intimidated, prosecuted and imprisoned.

Based in London, the a/political collection has been developed through long-term collaborations with artists engaged directly with today’s major political and social issues. a/political initiates, produces and tours new bodies of work that have previously been impossible to realise due to their complexity, scale or subject matter. To further production, a/political opened The Foundry, an experimental artist-run space in a disused foundry in the French industrial town of Maubourguet, close to the Pyrenees. 

This is the first exhibition from a partnership between a/political and BPS22. The second exhibition will be a two-person presentation of new work by Erik Bulatov and Andrei Molodkin, opening in February 2019.

*Petr Pavlensky’s action Éclairage is included in the exhibition. The documentation is not in the collection and is free for everyone to use. US OR CHAOS also includes a monumental work of the BPS22 collection: Resilients, by the duo David Brognon and Stéphanie Rollin in collaboration with laid-off workers from the Caterpillar factor in Gosselies.