What makes an image a “militant” image in the current political field? Looking back, impressive visual documents that have become part of collective memory very often depicted the break-out of revolutions or the birth of social movements, and also heroic moments of individual resistance, bravery and love.
The mass media and art galleries are still full of images of revolt and protest today. What desire lies behind such images, what is their explosive force? And what role does sharing play when they begin to circulate globally? But just as forms and objectives of militancy change, so too must we rethink the representation of militancy and the militancy of representation. If images of protest and resistance are not necessarily militant images, how can tactics of representation, forms of dissemination, and rebellious contexts be described that lend to the image its particular political intensity? The exhibition “The Militant Image” explores various networks and forms of militancy: artistic, urban and anti-fundamentalist militancy, militant decolonialisation – and the militancy of sharing.