Dysraphism: /dys•ra•phism/ (dis-raf´izm) [dys- +raphe +-ia ] incomplete closure of a raphe (the seam-like union of two lateral halves of an organ); defective fusion, particularly of the neural tube.
Dysraphic City is an exhibition at Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien developed during a three-month residency by the eight international summer 2013 residents of the Node Center for Curatorial Studies. Dysraphic City borrows a metaphor from Charles Bernstein’s poem “Dysraphism.” Bernstein employed the term as the title for his seminal 1984 L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poem, highlighting the use of syntactic disjuncture to convey meaning. This exhibition repurposes the term yet again, producing a framework that reveals defective or incomplete seams in the urban landscape of Berlin.
Often described as an “unfinished” city, Berlin is characterized by abandoned and contested sites. These spaces are continuously in flux: rediscovered, reinvented and repurposed. The artists in Dysraphic City create work referencing the city through video, photography, sound installation, and mixed media projects. Appropriating the tools of archaeologists, anthropologists, historians and even criminal investigators, they produce microcosms reflecting on the unique urban experience of Berlin.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a publication to be launched at the opening on August 22nd, 2013.
Curated by: Stephanie Han, Rebecca Heidenberg, Masha McConaghy, Inês Oliveira, Juliette Premmereur, Raphael Rogenmoser, Patrícia Rosas, Charlotte Van Buylaere
Full information: http://www.nodecenter.org/projects/dysraphic-city/
