Theater of Dis-Operations (Act I. Disarmament) at ArtNoble Gallery

Artists: Agnese Barbarani, Arijit Bhattacharyya, Paolo Ciregia, Critical Art Ensemble, Gaia De Megni, Thiago Dezan, Shadi Harouni, Délio Jasse, Infinite, Zazzaro Otto, Stefano Serretta, Francesco Vullo

Exhibition title: Theater of Dis-Operations (Act I. Disarmament)

Venue: ArtNoble Gallery, Milan, Italy

Date: June 27 – September 27, 2024

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and ArtNoble Gallery, Milan

Note: Exhibition catalogue is available here. Text by Sa.turn platform is available here

ArtNoble Gallery is pleased to present Theater of Dis-Operations (Act I. Disarmament), a project by Sa.turn. The exhibition identifies the activation of disarmament processes as the primary urgency of contemporary society, in a historical period where the normalization of violence, the increase in armed conflicts, and the rapid expansion of the global arms market and war industries are at the center of public debate. According to SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), between 2014-18 and 2019-23, European states nearly doubled their arms imports (+94%).

The exhibition Theater of Dis-Operations (Act I. Disarmament) from its title to its display, aims to offer a critical perspective starting from the internalization of the definition of the theater of war (theater of operations), which is the geographical area where military strategy operations are conducted. The goal is to propose in a literally incisive way, processes and artistic works capable of offering new strategies for sabotaging violence through a repertoire of potential devices and acts. This sabotage aims to evade, render dysfunctional, disarm, but also propose strategies of escape, desertion, and “drop out” to weaken the war paradigm from the ground up.

Although there is a wide range of knowledge collected in dictionaries, glossaries, manuals, and cataloging structures that encompasses a vast series of violence devices, the concept of “weapon” here assumes a significantly broader meaning than commonly believed, reappearing in the form of devices, but also symbolic instruments and structures such as “state,” “flag,” and “nation.”

Starting from these considerations, Theater of Dis-Operations (Act I. Disarmament) attempts to offer techniques and tactics of disarmament, extending their practical limits. Disarming then means merely exempting the subject from using the weapon device, or is it necessary to challenge those economic macrosystems that contribute to fueling a death market for profit? Can desertion be a strategy of sabotage? Finally, disarmament by whom and in favor of what?