Schlingensief retrospective Art and the Church of Fear

2003

Tagesthemen previews a Christoph Schlingensief exhibition opening Friday at Berlin's Gropius Bau. Andre Kartschall's report includes archival Schlingensief speech and discussion with estate administrator Aino Laberenz and curator Raphael Gygax. It examines his provocative political and artistic actions, excluded people and the uncertain boundary between performance and reality. A substantive retrospective passage recalls his 2003 Biennale Church of Fear and relates it to insecurity after September 11; Gygax explains Schlingensief's view that fear should be articulated rather than concealed or displaced into racism. The report closes with the artist's quoted phrase used as the exhibition title and its prospective Friday opening.

Tagesthemen recalls Schlingensief presenting the Church of Fear at the 2003 Biennale to address diffuse insecurity after the September 11 attacks. Curator Raphael Gygax explains his view that fears should be discussed rather than concealed or transformed into racism. This is an attributed retrospective account of the installation and its purpose, not the separate 2008 cancer-related oratorio.