Courtesy of Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW).

Drawing on theories of performativity and mythopoeia, as well as recent historiographic re-visions from ancient times to the Cold War era, Anselm Franke will explore concepts of genesis, genre, reproduction and origination, and situate them in an age where world-systemic relations of extraction and power give way to a novel‚ food-chain brutalism, on whose shores the founding myths and gestures of all times are washed up like undead flotsam. Anselm Franke will propose a number of concepts and tests their ability to re-map and re-narrate what happens within and across differential genres of life and value in the geopolitical matrix. Seeking to redefine the role of culture, the arts and the cosmographic exhibition and museum in bringing about a 'global consciousness‘ in the aftermath of Western universalism, Anselm Franke interrogates forms of agency and intervention within what must be properly understood as 'cosmogonic crises‘. Developing common horizons and political imaginaries beyond the imperatives of power and securitisation now requires conceptions of history and human capability reaching beyond the discursive molds defined by the modern disciplinary division of labour.

Anselm Franke is a curator and author. From 2013 till 2022, he was head of the visual arts and film department at Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin (HKW). He is known for developing the format of the 'essay exhibition', which consist of extensive research-based forays into political and cultural histories and current artistic production. Among his collaborative projects are Ceremony. Burial of an Undead World (2022, with Elisa Giuliano, Claire Tancons, Denise Ryder and Zairong Xiang), Parapolitics: Cultural Freedom and the Cold War (2017/2018, with Nida Ghouse, Paz Guevara, Antonia Majaca), and the project Animism (2010-2014), which was presented in different chapters and collaborations in Antwerp, Bern, Vienna, Berlin, New York, Shenzhen, Seoul, and Beirut. He also curated the first exhibitions of Forensic Architecture (Forensic, 2014, HKW Berlin) and was Chief Curator of the Taipei Biennale 2012 and the Shanghai Biennale 2014. Since August 1, 2022, he is Professor of Cultural Critique and Curatorial Studies at the Zurich University of the Arts.