Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead

Bergen Assembly 2019, titled Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead, encompasses an exhibition and a series of events taking place at various venues in Bergen. At the centre of the project is a preoccupation with life—with an understanding of life beyond the binary oppositions of life and death, nature and culture, human and animal, subject and object, healthy and sick, past and future. Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead examines how to redefine our alliances with those who are not presently living. The project proposes communicating with the spectres of the past and the future and taking responsibility for those who are no longer, or not yet, here. 

The exhibition includes works by approximately 60 artists and contributors from other fields, among them various new productions. Works that are part of long-term artistic projects provide the central focus. The works in the exhibition are intricately intertwined with the other formats and platforms of the Bergen Assembly 2019.

The exhibition is based on a collective curatorial process and re-situates its various aesthetic, methodological and discursive strands constantly in relationship to and against one another from venue to venue in a different way. Its strands and constellations revolve around forms of life that resist both present normative models of life as well as prevailing politics of death. They explore the emancipatory potentials of the arts, of the feast, the parody, or of the preoccupation with the ghosts of the past and future. They test out forms and formats of sharing the knowledge and experiences of resistive practices. 

With contributions by Daniel G. Andújar, Anne de Boer, Eloïse Bonneviot, Lorenza Böttner, Sarah Browne, Lisa Bufano/Sonsherée Giles, Francesco Careri/Stalker, Capital Drawing Group, Banu Cennetoğlu, Juliana Cerqueira Leite/Zoë Claire Miller, Pauline Curnier Jardin, Anna Dasović, Laressa Dickey, Ines Doujak, Eva Egermann, Toto Estirado/Gonzalo García-Pelayo, Ruth Ewan, Valérie Favre, Feminist Health Care Research Group, Flo6X8, Magdalena Freudenschuss, Robert Gabris, Tony Gatlif, Ali Gharavi, Niklas Goldbach, Helios Gómez, Francisco de Goya, Jan Peter Hammer, Nora Heidorn, Minna Henriksson, Siri Hermansen, Niillas Holmberg/Jenni Laiti/Outi Pieski, Anette Hoffmann, Hiwa K, Alexander Kluge, Teresa Lanceta/Pedro G. Romero, Darcy Lange, LEE Yunyop, Malebona Maphutse and Simnikiwe Buhlungu (former Title In Transgression members) feat. the Community, NOH Suntag, Ocaña, PEROU/Sébastien Thiéry, Paula Pin, Åsa Sonjasdotter, peter steudtner, Imogen Stidworthy, Ceija Stojka, Nina Støttrup Larsen, Sunaura Taylor, Teatro Gitano Andaluz of Mario Maya, the Mycological Twist, Emma Wolukau-Wanambwa, Workers’ Families Seeking Justice (WFSJ) and its Support Group from the One Hope Association, and others.

Bergen Assembly 2019 is conceived by conveners Hans D. Christ and Iris Dressler in collaboration with Murat Deha Boduroğlu, Banu Cennetoğlu, María García, Hiwa K, Katia Krupennikova, Viktor Neumann, Paul B. Preciado, Pedro G. Romero, Simon Sheikh, and Emma Wolukau-Wanambwa. Read more 

Coming up: The Parliament of Bodies in Bergen – A Parliament of Bitches
Bergen Assembly 2019’s public programme already started in April with the opening of its central working, meeting, and public space Belgin. On June 15, the Parliament of Bodies, conceived by Paul B. Preciado and Viktor Neumann, holds its first public gathering in Bergen. It calls for an anti-fascist, transfeminist, and anti-racist coalition and the celebration of many voices fighting against the techno-patriarchal and colonial regime worldwide. Artists, musicians, philosophers, performers, activists, writers and scholars will constitute a Parliament of Bitches with discussions, music, performances, screenings, and rituals while approaching summer solstice. Read more

With contributions by Aérea Negrot, Betty Apple, Synnøve Bendixsen, Banu Cennetoğlu, Nikita Dhawan, Sarah Diehl, Tsaplya (Olga Egorova) and Kolyan Tatyana (Nikolay) Oleynikov from Chto Delat, María Galindo, Jack Halberstam, An-Magritt Hanssen, Caspar Heinemann, Max Jorge Hinderer Cruz, Nelli Kambouri, Theodore (ted) Kerr, Ewa Majewska, Daniel Mariblanca, Jota Mombaça, Mari Norbakk, Narcissister, Elin Már Øyen Vister, Margarita Tsomou, and Sunniva Vik, among others. 

Accreditation to Bergen Assembly 2019’s Opening Days
Bergen Assembly 2019’s Opening Days take place from September 5-8, 2019 and feature the inauguration of the exhibition as well as a dense programme of events and activities. Signing in for accreditation to the Opening Days is possible here.

Further information 
Henriette Sölter, Head of Communications, henriette@bergenassembly.no