Afgerukte ledematen, ontbindende lijken en afstotelijke monsters. Net als in het posthumanisme staat in gothic het lichaam centraal. Toevallig? Volgens curator Tomas van den Heuvel niet.
Sometimes, a sight is so grand and overwhelming that it evokes in us a mixture of fear, rapture and awe. This aesthetic experience is known in art as the sublime. The term is often applied to a wild and untamed nature. A sublime nature in this sense features prominently in the Gothic tradition, not only as a setting for elusive mysteries or unspeakable secrets, but also as a protagonist in its own right. Romantic landscape paintings from the 19th century, for instance, frequently represent nature as a reflection of the artist’s soul. Dark forests or lofty mountains convey feelings of loneliness, yearning and dread.
[…] this wildness of thought, and roughness of work; this look of mountain brotherhood between the cathedral and the Alp […].
Contemporary Goths often seek inspiration or refuge in nature too. Once again, however, nature is never simply a romantic image. According to the Gothic expert Catherine Spooner, contemporary Gothic imagery has a particular fascination for ‘negative space’ – places where something ought to be, but where there is nothing, or nothing any more. This Gothic image of nature as a dark and elusive locus of fear and desire could be more relevant than ever in our present era of climate change.
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From the exposition: goth is a battleground for the great issues of identity, individual and community. Now, and already in the nineteenth century.