The beast and the sovereign

This exhibition explores how contemporary art questions the western and metaphysical definition of political sovereignty and the modern nation-state, and how art proposes ways of understanding freedom beyond the individual autonomy. The exhibition takes its title from the last seminar given by philosopher Jacques Derrida in 2002-2003 focused on analyzing the limits of political sovereignty in the metaphysical tradition. The beast and the sovereign are, for Derrida, two figures allegorical of politics that have historically situated beyond the law: the beast supposedly ignores the law and the sovereign whose power is defined precisely by its ability to suspend the law. This division produces a series of binary oppositions of genre, class, species, sex, race or disability that structure the relations of domination. 
 
The exhibition has been organized and co-produced by the Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) and the Württembergischer Kunstverein (WKV) Stuttgart, and features works by Efren Alvarez, Angela Bonadies and Juan José Olavarria, Juan Downey, Edgar Endress, Oier Etxeberria, León Ferrari, Eiko Grimberg, Masist Gül (presented by Banu Cennetoğlu and Philippine Hoegen), Ghasem Hajizadeh, Jan Peter Hammer, Geumhyung Jeong, Glenda León, Julia Montilla, Rabih Mroué, Ocaña, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Prabhakar Pachpute, Mary Reid Kelley, Jorge Ribalta, Hans Scheirl, Wu Tsang, Stefanos Tsivopoulos, Yelena Vorobyeva and Victor Vorobyev, Peggy Buth, Martin Dammann, Ines Doujak and John Barker, and Sergio Zevallos.