Mother Courage and Her Children

The exhibition title is borrowed from the eponymous play by the German playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht. Brecht wrote the play as an anti-war drama during his exile in Sweden in 1939. The protagonist, Mother Courage, pulls her cart with merchandise from battlefield to battlefield during the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) peddling overpriced provisions to soldiers. The play describes how war creates dilemmas that are difficult to navigate and brings out the dark side in people. Mother Courage sacrifices morals as well as love, and even her children, in her quest for money. 

How could Mother Courage have resisted? In a time characterised by fear and rearmament, Accelerator wants to make room for the poetic and highlight the subversive power of the irrational. The exhibition Mother Courage and Her Children presents immaterial works that, in various ways, depict courage or acts of resistance. Performances, films and soundworks that address feelings of fear and frustration and leave space for agency, hope and community. 

Mother Courage and Her Children is presented in parallel with Tori Wrånes’ exhibition BIG WATER. Wråne’s practice is distinguished by a desire to move beyond cultural norms, codes and categories. Tori Wråne’s bizarre and surreal depictions contain a strong element of humour, desire and energy, which underlines the explosive force of moving in the irrational.

The exhibition is curated by Richard Julin and Therese Kellner.