GALLERY 3 NIEUWE INSTITUUT ROTTERDAM

EXHIBITION

JULY 27 - OCTOBER 08, 2023

Bringing together works by thirteen artists and collectives, the exhibition Colonial Endurance: Detecting the Algorithm of Violence in Infrastructures showcases artistic strategies for detecting this so-called “algorithm of violence” across various geographies. It examines how remnants of colonial processes and imperialist visions continue to endure through architectural and industrial heritage, as well as within ecological landscapes. The exhibition calls for a critical reevaluation of this persistence, as much of it was established on principles of intrusion towards both people and nature. The idea of looking at colonial heritage through its industrial manifestations—river banks, oil processing and hydropower infrastructures, single-industry cities, chemical manufactures, educational and cultural institutions—is catalyzed by the intention to understand which alternative models of economic, political and infrastructural relations should take their place.

By including examples of Russian internal colonialism and its enduring colonial relations with the countries that were once a part of the Soviet Union, the Colonial Endurance project expands upon existing scholarship on forms of enduring coloniality. Due to interdependent, and often traumatic, economic and political histories, many of these countries are still connected, bearing remnants of partially operational or neglected industrial heritage and communication infrastructures. Studying these connections through their architectural embodiment contributes to the knowledge of different histories, formats, mutations and consequences of imperialism, colonialism, and militarism. The exhibition also detects manifestations of post-colonial conditions at work in countries affected by European colonialism, in addition to their impact on global politics and planetary environmental conditions.