30.11.2008—01.03.2009




BAK, basis voor actuele kunst presents The Return of Religion and Other Myths.

The Return of Religion and Other Myths is a large-scale multifaceted project, consisting of the exhibition The Art of Iconoclasm, a discourse program taking place in early 2009 titled On Post-Secularism, and the publication of a BAK Critical Reader on the subject in 2009. The project explores the popular assumption of the return of religion to the public sphere, contemporary politics, and the media in the West as a constitutive “myth.”

The exhibition The Art of Iconoclasm, curated by art historian and writer Sven Lütticken, consists of two parts: From Idol to Artwork at BAK, basis voor actuele kunst and Attacking the Spectacle at CM Studio, Centraal Museum. The Art of Iconoclasm investigates the relation between religious iconoclasm and iconoclastic gestures and strategies in modern and contemporary art. It proposes that iconoclasm is not merely a form of “iconophobic” vandalism, but a questioning of what passes for visual culture—an attempt to redefine and re-imagine the image.

Artists: Carl Andre, Carel Blotkamp, Guy Debord/Jean-Léon Gérôme, Rod Dickinson & Tom McCarthy, Hans Haacke, Arnoud Holleman, Imi Knoebel, Gert Jan Kocken, Krijn de Koning, Willem Oorebeek, Natascha Sadr Haghighian, Haim Steinbach, Rosemarie Trockel, and Lidwien van de Ven.


The discourse program On Post-Secularism examines the popular assumption of the revival of religious faith, issues of iconoclasm, and the changing character of secularism in a series of lectures, presentations, and research meetings investigating different perspectives on the manifestation of religion in the public sphere. On Post-Secularism is co-organized with the Centre for the Humanities, Utrecht University (www.hum.uu.nl/cfh).


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