Participating artists:Bianca Hisse, Dalia Al-Kury, Eli Cortiñas, Mona Hatoum, Pınar Öğrenci und Regina José Galindo
Venue:Tromsø Center for Contemporary Art
Mellomvegen 82
9007 Tromsø
Siren is a group exhibition surrounding artistic strategies of resistance in a time of political polarisation, war and democratic decline. In the face of a global erosion of democratic values and the resurgence of authoritarian rhetorics, Siren convenes a polyphony of artistic voices that navigate the politics of alarm, voice, and resistance.
The exhibition takes its starting point in the siren—a sound we know as a warning. The siren can signal danger and control, but also attention and gathering. Here it is understood as both: an expression of state power and, at the same time, a voice that refuses to be silenced. Through film, sound, and performance, the artists explore how people are monitored, disciplined, or silenced in political and social systems. Many of the works are based on experiences of militarization, migration, occupation, and care—and on the role of the body in encounters with power.
The exhibition takes its title from Regina José Galindo’s Siren (2024), in which a police car is dismantled until the alarm falls silent. The work reflects several of the exhibition’s questions: Who has the right to make noise? Which voices are heard – and which are silenced?
Siren is shown in a former nursing home, a place with a history linked to care, silence and restitution. This setting invites reflection on healing, not as a quick fix, but as a shared process. In the face of grief, unrest, and political violence, the exhibition asks what art can do—and how listening can be a form of resistance.
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