23 May 2014

The Rebel City at ADN Platform

ADN Platform in Sant Cugat del Vallès, Spain, is pleased to present 'The Rebel City,' an exhibition curated by Miguel Amado. It is the winner of the first edition of ADN Platform's Curatorial Challenge program. ADN Platform is the not-for-profit project space of the Barcelona-based ADN Gallery.

The 'Rebel City' is inspired by the concept of the same name originated by the geographer David Harvey. Harvey argues that capitalism has led to uneven development and deep inequalities, and that these in turn have provoked a disrupted social order on a global scale. The disruptions, he says, are most apparent in metropolitan areas, as illustrated by the ongoing waves of demonstrations in various European capitals. As Harvey claims, 'The revolution in our times has to be urban, or nothing.'

The works featured in 'The Rebel City' all reflect this idea of the metropolis as contested terrain where deep currents of anti-capitalist struggle are rising to the surface. Some refer to specific moments of uprising such as the Battle of Seattle or Occupy Wall Street. Others deal with more abstract notions such as anarchism or the financialization of daily life. They engage with dissent both literally and symbolically, evoking the intellectual roots, iconography, and material culture of protest.

Selected artists include Kyle Goen and Dread Scott, Nicoline van Harskamp, Anna Moreno, Ahmet Öğüt, Oliver Ressler, Allan Sekula, Gregory Sholette, and Stephanie Syjuco. All of them are from Europe and the United States of America—the regions where capitalism originally developed. They offer a critical perspective of its ideology, commenting on its historical and current effects and criticizing the dehumanization it produces.