Bernd Arnold – Power and Ritual
Speech by Dr. Christoph Schaden about the exhibition Power and Ritual
March 3, 2006 in Kölnisches Stadtmuseum, Cologne, Germany.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear friends of photography,
thank you very much for the opportunity to introduce you to the photographic exhibition that we are opening here at the Kölnisches Stadtmuseum. Tonight - as you have probably read on the invitation card - it's all about POWER and RITUAL. This is a very ambitious title, which at first might make you think of a dissertation in the field of sociology rather than a photographic exhibition. This title not only operates with two abstract terms, the meaning of which must first be grasped. It also clearly wants to tell us that the pictures in this exhibition are to be viewed from a certain angle. Power and Ritual is therefore the title of an exhibition that presumably challenges us in the best sense of the word. Let me therefore begin by quoting a thought that provides a first track to understanding what we are dealing with today.
Power is not something that one acquires, takes away, shares, keeps or loses; power is something that takes place from innumerable points and in the interplay of unequal and mobile relationships. (Michel Foucault)
