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Désordre sacré at CAN Centre d’Art Neuchâtel

Désordre Sacré At Can Centre D’art Neuchâtel 20

Exhibition booklet is available here
can.ch

The idea behind the exhibition Désordre sacré stems from a collective and general reflection by the curatorial team on the contexts in which CAN is set, whether related to the history of the art center itself, its factory past or its geographical location. In this case, the theme of the Middle Ages was inspired by its location in the heart of Neuchâtel’s old town and beneath its castle, where elements of medieval architecture can still be seen. The works exhibited here, all created in the 21st century, were brought together because some of their characteristics seemed to be rooted in this medieval soil.

It’s a well-known fact that the first vision that shaped our idea of the Middle Ages dates back to the Renaissance, which sought to reconnect with lost Antiquity by leaping across it. Beyond its obvious artificiality – it seems reductive to unite nearly a thousand years of history under a single name – it has become a historical period that can be understood and studied for its own sake, within its many regional elements. In the context of global history, the Middle Ages thus appear as a specific period (generally situated between the beginning of the 5th and the end of the 15th century) and a specific region of the world that could be described as strictly “european”. Many states can lay claim to a medieval origin, and have sometimes used it to construct their idea of the nation in contemporary times. However, it is important to exclude any mythical genealogy, since the plurality of experiences, the discontinuity of temporalities and the scale of social, cultural and territorial changes have been transformative elements over the long term. This is why we must not confuse historical realities with fantasies.

Today, we see this “reinvented Middle Ages” everywhere in pop culture as rich, gigantic imagery. And whatever the reasons for this surge, the choice of aesthetic and narrative elements featured in these reinventions is of particular interest, as it says much more about our contemporary times than about the historical period itself; just as, through the futuristic visions of science fiction, our society projects itself into this distorting mirror, with its fears and aspirations. This imagery is therefore less anodyne, superficial and, above all, far more political than it might at first appear.

Contemporary art, as a more marginal cultural marker, is also a means of understanding the questioning of an era; it is permeable to popular influences, and this taste for the medieval certainly marks the imagination of artists. What aesthetic elements or “medieval” aspects appear in contemporary works of art, and in what ways? What figures or techniques are taken up by artists? And to what end? The exhibition uses these questions as a common thread, and auempts to find clues through works that are, moreover, highly diverse in terms of both technique and theme.

Désordre Sacré At Can Centre D’art Neuchâtel 1
Désordre sacré, exhibition view, CAN Centre d’art Neuchâtel, 2024
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Slavs and Tatars, Sanft Power (detail), 2022
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Slavs and Tatars, Sanft Power, 2022
Désordre Sacré At Can Centre D’art Neuchâtel 4
Désordre sacré, exhibition view, CAN Centre d’art Neuchâtel, 2024
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Kasper Bosmans, Odinn Always Winking (One Blue Eye) (left), 2024. Odinn Always Winking (right), 2024, Courtesy of the artist and Gladstone Gallery
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Désordre sacré, exhibition view, CAN Centre d’art Neuchâtel, 2024
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Gaia Vincensini, Synchronized Chaos Solution, 2023
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Gaia Vincensini, Synchronized Chaos Solution, 2023
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Gaia Vincensini, Synchronized Chaos Solution, 2023
Désordre Sacré At Can Centre D’art Neuchâtel 10
Désordre sacré, exhibition view, CAN Centre d’art Neuchâtel, 2024
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Désordre sacré, exhibition view, CAN Centre d’art Neuchâtel, 2024
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Désordre sacré, exhibition view, CAN Centre d’art Neuchâtel, 2024
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Zuzanna Czebatul, A Trillion Threads Still Wea- ving (Four Veils), 2023, Sans titre gallery, Paris
Désordre Sacré At Can Centre D’art Neuchâtel 14
Zuzanna Czebatul, A Trillion Threads Still Wea- ving (Green Veil), 2023, Sans titre gallery, Paris
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Sina Oberhänsli, swaying lights, 2020
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Sina Oberhänsli, swaying lights, 2020
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Désordre sacré, exhibition view, CAN Centre d’art Neuchâtel, 2024
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Caroline von Gunten, Scripting your Reality, 2024
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Caroline von Gunten, Scripting your Reality, 2024
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Pamela Rosenkranz, Alien Blue Window (500 S Buena Vista St, Kral), 2021, Courtesy of the artist and Karma International Zurich
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Désordre sacré, exhibition view, CAN Centre d’art Neuchâtel, 2024
Désordre Sacré At Can Centre D’art Neuchâtel 22
Désordre sacré, exhibition view, CAN Centre d’art Neuchâtel, 2024
Désordre Sacré At Can Centre D’art Neuchâtel 23
Sina Oberhänsli, From dusk till dawn, 2020
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Désordre sacré, exhibition view, CAN Centre d’art Neuchâtel, 2024
Désordre Sacré At Can Centre D’art Neuchâtel 25
Pamela Rosenkranz, Alien Blue Window (500 S Buena Vista St, Cranim, 2021, Private Collection Switzerland
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Martin Chramosta, Justizgehäuse (left), 2024. Haager Gehäuse (right), 2024
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Martin Chramosta, Archiv Gehäuse, 2024
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Martin Chramosta, Fehlendes Gehäuse, 2024
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Léopold Rabus, exhibition view, CAN Centre d’art Neuchâtel, 2024
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Léopold Rabus, exhibition view, CAN Centre d’art Neuchâtel, 2024
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Léopold Rabus, Oiseau N, 2022
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Léopold Rabus, Oiseau J, 2022
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Désordre sacré, exhibition view, CAN Centre d’art Neuchâtel, 2024
Désordre Sacré At Can Centre D’art Neuchâtel 34
Sina Oberhänsli, We used to be, 2019
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Sina Oberhänsli, exhibition view, CAN Centre d’art Neuchâtel, 2024
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Sina Oberhänsli, Where are my roots?, 2019
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Désordre sacré, exhibition view, CAN Centre d’art Neuchâtel, 2024
Désordre Sacré At Can Centre D’art Neuchâtel 38
Marie-Eve Perez, Socle, 2024
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Lauryn Youden, From the Great Above She Opened her Ear to the Great Below, 2020
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Lauryn Youden, From the Great Above She Opened her Ear to the Great Below, 2020
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Lauryn Youden, From the Great Above She Opened her Ear to the Great Below, 2020
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Lauryn Youden, From the Great Above She Opened her Ear to the Great Below, 2020
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Lauryn Youden, To Offer You something, To Bring Relief, 2020
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Lauryn Youden, To Offer You something, To Bring Relief, 2020
Désordre Sacré At Can Centre D’art Neuchâtel 45
Lauryn Youden, To Offer You something, To Bring Relief, 2020
Désordre Sacré At Can Centre D’art Neuchâtel 46
Lauryn Youden, To Offer You something, To Bring Relief, 2020
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Désordre sacré, exhibition view, CAN Centre d’art Neuchâtel, 2024
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Pamela Rosenkranz, Creation, Deterioration, Conservation (Lemis) (front), 2017, Courtesy of Sammlung Ricola
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Sina Oberhänsli, Stillness in the air, 2024
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Sina Oberhänsli, Stillness in the air, 2024
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Sina Oberhänsli, exhibition view, CAN Centre d’art Neuchâtel, 2024
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Juana Robles, Anastatica, 2021
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Juana Robles, Anastatica, 2021
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Gaia Vincensini with Nelson Schaub, view of the performance Human artefact after all, 2024
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Gaia Vincensini with Nelson Schaub, view of the performance Human artefact after all, 2024
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Gaia Vincensini with Nelson Schaub, view of the performance Human artefact after all, 2024
Désordre Sacré At Can Centre D’art Neuchâtel 57
Gaia Vincensini with Nelson Schaub, view of the performance Human artefact after all, 2024

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