Bernd Scherer - 100 Years of Now Journal

Bernd Scherer | © Stephanie Pilick

Bernd Scherer

Bernd Scherer holds a doctoral degree in Philosophy from the Universität des Saarlandes and is author of several publications focussing on aesthetics and international cultural exchange. He comes to the Haus der Kulturen der Welt from the Goethe Institute, where he served as Director of the Goethe Institute Mexico from 1999 through 2004 and subsequently as Director of the Arts Department for the Head Office in Munich. Previously, Scherer headed the Department of Humanities and Culture at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt and also served as its Deputy Director. The start of his directorship thus represents a return to an institution in which he from 1994-1999 played a decisive role with respect to organizational and artistic development. Bernd Scherer has taught at the Institute of European Ethnology of the Humboldt University Berlin as Honorary Professor since 2011.

Contributions to the 100 Years of Now. Journal: Deciphering International Relations

29.10.2018 Re-Narrating History Bernd Scherer

The Serious Becomes Play

In 1957 the artist Guy Debord, together with other left-wing European intellectuals, founded the Situationist International (S.I.). The movement understood itself as a “revolutionary front within culture”, critiquing the spectacle of the commodity society of the time using the methods of play and the so-called communication guerrilla. In an age in which the principles of the market economy now exercise an even more pervasive influence on life, the exhibition project The Most Dangerous Game at HKW initiates a reassessment of the Situationist critique. In discussion with HKW director Bernd Scherer, the curators Wolfgang Scheppe and Roberto Ohrt explore how the S.I. understood the sublation of art, while its members nevertheless perceived themselves as professional revolutionaries in the field of art, demonstrating intellectual flexibility within this dichotomy. To article in German...

06.04.2016 Escape Routes Bernd Scherer

The Administered Dialog

A genuine exchange within society is not wanted, this is evident in the treatment of refugees. However, we need a culture of open dialog which accommodates difference and opens up time-spaces for the development of sustainable political strategies. Only the opportunity for active participation in society can prevent the excluded from retreating into particularist communities. To article...

dialog ∙ Social Exclusion ∙ Bureaucracy ∙ Democracy ∙ Immigration Society ∙ Refugees ∙ Globalization

18.12.2015 Re-Narrating History Bernd Scherer

Time War Technology: An Amalgam of Power

Introductory speech from Bernd Scherer, Director of the HKW, on the occasion of the kick-off to 100 Years of Now on 30/09/2015.

Emergency administration of the moment versus history as a space of possibility: How can our society develop new models for action instead of just continually reacting to unexpected challenges? In order to answer this question Bernd Scherer has thrown a wide net—from contemporary history to military and technological history. Capitalism, technology and acceleration have given rise to an explosive amalgam whose composition urgently requires analysis: the present. To article...

100 Years of Now. The Opening ∙ First World War ∙ Capitalism ∙ War ∙ Modernization ∙ Civil Society