“Warfare Today: Mechanisms of Power in the 21st century”, with H. Münkler, F. Nori und F. Schwinn

15.04.2016

Herfried Münkler, professor for political science at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Franziska Nori, director of the Frankfurter Kunstverein, will talk about asymmetrical warfare, hybrid war, and its consequences, moderated by Florian Schwinn (HR2 Kultur).

War or peace, armed conflict between states or civil war, actively involved combatants or innocent bystanders – according to Herfried Münkler, these traditional distinctions of a Western discourse on war based on binary classifications have lost their relevance today. In his latest book “Kriegssplitter” (Fractures of War), Münkler explains how these distinctions get blurred and how hybrid conditions emerge: we are living in a time of hybrid war or hybrid peace, depending on your perspective. And today’s conflicts are less about occupying a certain territory and more about competing value systems or the control over flows of capital, information and people.

In their conversation, Herfried Münkler and Franziska Nori will address the consequences of these “new wars” and their inherent mechanisms of power. Within the framework of the current exhibition at the Frankfurter Kunstverein, “Mechanisms of Power. Regina Jose Galindo/Arcangelo Sassolino”, the consequences of a threat of violence or the direct physical execution of it on our perception and behaviour is being investigated. In her performances, the Guatemalan artist Regina Jose Galindo confronts us with individual and existential experiences of liminality like violence and power, life and death as well as loss and mourning. The massive sculptures and installations by the Italian artist Arcangelo Sassolino implicate the possibility of a loss of control and collapse, should the forces contained within the works be suddenly unleashed. This play with risk and suspense becomes an elemental part of his artworks. Through an encounter between political science and contemporary art the Frankfurter Kunstverein wants to open up new perspectives in an ongoing public debate.

The conversation will be held in German.
Entry fee: 6 €
Members and concessions: 4 €