Barrikadenwetter
Image Acts of Insurrection
Curated by the Arsenale Institute, Venice
#Bibliographic Office
Barrikadenwetter (barricade weather) is a term coined by the anarchist Mikhail Bakunin in the newspaper Dresdner Zeitung on May 3, 1849: it denotes the moment of transition in which a revolutionary subject emerges within collective action, and reifies itself as an obstruction that stands in the way of established order. Starting from a historical survey by the Arsenale Institute—a research group which has long been engaged in projects related to visual arts as well as the critical analysis of the politics of representation—the exhibition explores the construction, concept and iconography of the barricade, from its beginnings in the late Renaissance to present times, tracing its historical connections with the roots of the 20th century avant-garde.
Barrikadenwetter. Image Acts of Insurrection. Exhibition view. Courtesy Arsenale Institute, Venice. Ph. Michela Pedranti – DSL Studio.
Barrikadenwetter. Image Acts of Insurrection. Exhibition view. Courtesy Arsenale Institute, Venice. Ph. Michela Pedranti – DSL Studio.
Barrikadenwetter. Image Acts of Insurrection. Exhibition view. Courtesy Arsenale Institute, Venice. Ph. Michela Pedranti – DSL Studio.
Barrikadenwetter. Image Acts of Insurrection. Exhibition view. Courtesy Arsenale Institute, Venice. Ph. Michela Pedranti – DSL Studio.
Barrikadenwetter. Image Acts of Insurrection. Detail. Courtesy Arsenale Institute, Venice. Ph. Michela Pedranti – DSL Studio.
Barrikadenwetter. Image Acts of Insurrection. Exhibition view. On the left wall: Hannah Höch, Phantasie in Kattun, Berlin, 1955. Collage on paper. Courtesy Arsenale Institute, Venice. Ph. Michela Pedranti – DSL Studio.
Barrikadenwetter. Image Acts of Insurrection. The beginning of the barricade. Courtesy Arsenale Institute, Venice. Ph. Michela Pedranti – DSL Studio.
Barrikadenwetter. Image Acts of Insurrection. The beginning of the barricade. Detail. «Scène de la Fronde, le peuple demandant la liberté de Broussel, 1648», in H. Gourdon de Genouillac, Paris à travers les siècles, F. Roy, Paris 1879. Book page; Cardinal de Retz, Mémoires du cardinal De Retz, J. F. Bernard, Amsterdam 1731. Book. [barr: Paris 1648–1652]; D. Auber, Fantaisie sur la muette de Portici, Margueritat, Paris 1828. Booklet. [barr: Naples 1648]; F. Bonneville, Masaniello (1620–1647), Paris ca. 1800. Engraving. [barr: Naples 1648]; La représentation de la Muette de Portici, Chocolat Antoine, Bruxelles ca. 1900; Advertisment postcard. [barr: Naples 1648 – Bruxelles 1830]; La Muette de Portici, Extrait de viande Liebig, Paris ca. 1900. Advertisment postcard; Bruxelles – Place des Barricades. Postcard. [barr: Bruxelles 1830]; Rue de Flandre a Bruxelles, Jeudi 23 Septembre 1830. Postcard. [barr: Bruxelles 1830]; Courtesy Arsenale Institute, Venice. Ph. Michela Pedranti – DSL Studio.
Barrikadenwetter. Image Acts of Insurrection. Metaphore of the barricade. Courtesy Arsenale Institute, Venice. Ph. Michela Pedranti – DSL Studio.
Barrikadenwetter. Image Acts of Insurrection. Metaphore of the barricade. Detail. Leboeuf Milliet, Révolutions de 1848: Une barricade, Assiette Creil et Montereau, ca. 1861–1867. Opaque porcelaine plate. Leboeuf Milliet, Prise de la barricade de la Porte St. Denis, Assiette Creil et Montereau, ca. 1861–1867; Opaque porcelaine plate. Spandau Ballet, Through The Barricades, CBS Records, 1986. 45 rpm record; BARRICADE, videogame advertising, 1976. Poster; Jeu des manifestants, S.C. éditeur, Paris ca. 1910. Board game; Courtesy Arsenale Institute, Venice. Ph. Michela Pedranti – DSL Studio.
Barrikadenwetter. Image Acts of Insurrection. Metaphore of the barricade. Detail. 25/9/1830 Attaque de l’entrée du Parc de Bruxelles – 23/9/1830 Retraite des hussards hollandais, Porte de Flandre; – 25/8/1830 Représentation de La Muette de Portici, Wiel’s, Bruxelles. Coasters; «Tates, mames, kinderlech, bojen barikadn, in Szmerke Kaczerginski», Ondenk- buch, Buenos Aires 1955. Book; 8.20 AAVV, Songs from the barricades, People’s Democracy, Belfast, 1974. Book; Trust, Toutes Barricades, 1983. Jukebox label; Barricate di Notte, barrel-aged wine, Cascina Gagliassi, Monforte d’Alba. Label; Barricade, Adidas, 2023. Shoes; François Nedelec, Duccio Vitale, Mai 68: La Nuit des Barricades, Un Jeu de Société Carnivore, La Folie douce, Paris 1980. Board game; Courtesy Arsenale Institute, Venice. Ph. Michela Pedranti – DSL Studio.
Barrikadenwetter. Image Acts of Insurrection. Situationists and the barricade. Detail. Bourgeois vous n’avez rien compris, Atelier populaire, Paris, May 1968. Poster. «La France face aux jeunes», in Le Nouvel Observateur n.183, Paris 1968. Magazine; Préfecture de Police, Image act of the police, Paris, May 1968. Reprint. Courtesy Arsenale Institute, Venice. Ph. Michela Pedranti – DSL Studio.
Barrikadenwetter. Image Acts of Insurrection. External view. Courtesy Arsenale Institute, Venice. Ph. Michela Pedranti – DSL Studio.
The exhibition walls host an iconography of the barricade which through the collection of 289 images compares three different image acts of looking at the revolt in Paris during May 1968: the rioters, the media and the police. The imagery in this triptych, although it has the same subject, is the result of opposing politics of representation.
In the middle of the exhibition space, eight glass displays present an overview of the history of the spontaneous act of building road barriers out of found materials.
The printed matter also explores the historical connections between the emergence of 20th century avant-garde techniques and the nature of the barricade. Dadaist artist Hannah Höch, who is also known for her proximity to the construction of barricades during the Spartacist Revolt in Berlin in 1919, pioneered a specific use of collage that brought heterogeneous elements from bourgeois society together, deploying them against it. This desecrating attitude has been applied in many genres of art: the détournement, the cut-up technique of the Beat Generation, Bertolt Brecht’s Alienation effect in literature, the assemblage in sculpture, the pastiche and sample in music, deconstructivism in architecture, and montage in cinema.
A single collage by Hannah Höch stands for this revolution in art, derived from the archetype of the barricade.
Heartfelt thanks to Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna – Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna
Archives de la Préfecture de police de Paris
Curators: Wolfgang Scheppe, Bastiaan van der Velden, Sara Codutti, Eleonora Sovrani (Arsenale Institute, Venice)
Curatorial Coordinator: Matteo Binci
Production Coordinator: Giulia Caruso
Production Assistant: Eloisa Magiera
Art Handlers: Nomade Arte, Carlo Giannone, Fabio Pennacchia, Matteo Pompili
The exhibition is promoted by Assessorato alla Cultura diRoma Capitale and Azienda Speciale Palaexpo.