27/11/2021 – 27/02/2022,

Nimmersatt? Imagining Society without Growth

, Kunsthalle Münster

Human activity has a decisive influence on the environment. The economically privileged global North is largely of the opinion that there is no other option than that of growth. Yet growth is finite, processes have got out of balance, are developed on the basis of social inequality and the exploitation of nature/the environment. This makes it imperative for us diverge from existing paths, to deliberately abandon customary maxims regarded as self-evident, and to engage in a discussion about the dogma of more and more, further and further.

Wealth and the constant growth of capital alone cannot deliver on the promise of happiness. What is necessary is to reconsider what has been valid to date and to act in a spirit of community. What can take the place of the economic and social models that have prevailed to date? How can renunciation become a matter of future-oriented routine? What regional and global measures can provide a new resource and climate-friendly definition of consumption, and what new ideas in the sense of creative resourcefulness can be introduced into society? Can we imagine new objectives concerning to communal life, can we change our habits and act individually and jointly?

The group exhibition Nimmersatt? Imagining Society without Growth takes as its point of departure the current state of our environment and the prevailing social conditions. In the face of mutually determining events and developments, such as social inequality, climate changes, illness, war, flight and xenophobia, the exhibition uses the widespread lack of orientation and helplessness so as to highlight and explore by artistic means concrete visions and also utopias of a society beyond growth maxims. In an awareness of the impossibility of offering a single solution, this vacuum is transformed into a space for reflecting on possible future scenarios in a way that is both critical-substantive and also enjoyably fantastic!

Nimmersatt? extends over three institutions in Münster: Kunsthalle Münster, LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur and Westfälischer Kunstverein. At all three venues, artists will confront the imminent collapse of dominant social systems using different artistic media and approaches. In addition to a series of works on loan, the institutions will present several new productions that are the fruits of dialogue and are being shown here for the very first time.

Artists: Georges Adéagbo, Mathis Altmann, Marwa Arsanios, Andrea Bowers, Alice Creischer, Thirza Cuthand, Cao Fei, Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani, Johan Grimonprez, Christine & Irene Hohenbüchler, Karrabing Film Collective, Eva Koťátková, Elke Marhöfer, Anna McCarthy, Anita Molinero, Matt Mullican, Lerato Shadi, Andreas Siekmann, Radha D'Souza & Jonas Staal, Sophie Utikal, Raul Walch

Curators: Merle Radtke, Kristina Scepanski, Marianne Wagner

A joint project by Kunsthalle Münster, LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur and Westfälischer Kunstverein