War is omnipresent in today’s world. It is an inherent part of the economy and the politics that set the global agenda and world order. Different cultures and societies are partly the result of the constant succession of wars fought over the years. Given this reality, the exhibition Why War? questions its existence through contemporary art with the goal of opening up spaces of clarity and thinking that question its persistence.

Alfredo Jaar is one of the artists participating in the exhibition. Throughout his lengthy career, he has created a critical oeuvre that examines the mechanisms and ideological frameworks behind the construction of the images and discourses that circulate in the public sphere.  He is contributing to the show with three works —May 1, 2011, War Criminal and Mea Culpa—  that question the status quo, open our gaze to new perspectives and prompt a reflection on politics, power and our role as political agents within this machine.

Is critical reflection possible today? Is political resistance possible today? Or does the excess and over-abundance of images (of certain images, those that are not suppressed) saturate these abilities until they are reduced to mere illusions or an empty exercise?

Can images of suffering, transformed into both commodities and advertisement-like icons, get beyond the channels that bring them into the global circuits of mere consumerism, almost instantaneous rejection and ethical and political indifference?

In the three-day seminar The Politics of Images, the artist Alfredo Jaar will explore these questions and his works with a small group of participants.

Alfredo Jaar is an artist, architect and film-maker who lives and works in New York. His works have been shown extensively around the globe. He has participated in several biennials in different years and in several editions of Documenta in Kassel, and his works are part of many prestigious art collections. For further information: www.alfredojaar.net