Juan Bermudez in Kassel – 15. – 29. Juni 2024

Charivari, cat music, cacerolazo, pots-and-pans protest, rough music, shalwari banging... all these terms describe similar rituals in which noise is made in public as a gesture of protest and disapproval. Until the 19th century, these rituals were still primarily linked to moral concepts, but became increasingly politicised. Since the 20th century, acoustic protest has been used as an explicitly political form of expression all over the world, including in France, Canada, Sudan, Morocco, Myanmar, Nigeria, Chile, Colombia and Iceland. The banging and banging of pots and pans thus possesses the qualities of a decentralised, non-violent language of protest that is almost universally understandable. The group exhibition Charivari presents three individual artistic explorations of the theme. The exploration takes place via video, sound and objects. Colombian-born artist Juan David Bermúdez, for example, uses interactive sound installations to realise his experiences of the cacerolazo in his home country.

In contrast, there are films by Zaki Al-Maboren that document the acoustic protest in Sudan from 2019, which appear in a completely new light in light of current developments there. It is a similar story with Tan Bones, whose work "Sound Pot" combines objects from the protest movement in Myanmar in 2021 with an interactive smartphone app.

However, Charivari does not simply present political activism, but also questions the extent to which acoustic protest is the starting point for an aesthetic experience. The works do not directly accuse anyone, but invite viewers to question their own role and the boundary between creative protest and violence. The tumult of the Charivari thus reveals both hope and despair.