Hauntology, essentially the logic of the ghost, is a concept as ephemeral and abstract as the term implies. But, like a ghost, it is a concept that continues urgently to reappear and take new shape. Since it was first used by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida in a 1993 lecture delivered at UC Riverside concerning the state of Marxist thought in the post-Communist era, the term “hauntology” has been widely discussed in philosophical and political circles and has also become a major influence on the development of a sub-genre of electronic music. Broadly speaking, hauntology is a philosophy of history—a philosophy that complicates the easy progression of past, present, and future to describe a more indeterminate experience of time.
The curators of Hauntology—San Francisco-based artist and musician Scott Hewicker and BAM/PFA Director Lawrence Rinder—have chosen to focus primarily on recent contemporary acquisitions to the permanent collection, mixing these works with a number of pieces from earlier historical eras and diverse cultures. Their method has been intuitive instead of analytical: rather than attempting to illustrate Derrida's text or to match visually the musical genre of hauntological sounds, they attempted to absorb the “spirit” of hauntology and then allowed a wide range of works to join their curatorial séance.
Works in the exhibition incorporate archaic imagery, styles, or techniques and evoke uncertainty, mystery, inexpressible fears, and unsatisfied longing. Among the artists to be included are Luc Tuymans, Diane Arbus, Bruce Conner, Carrie Mae Weems, Peter Doig, Julia Margaret Cameron, Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, and James McNeill Whistler, among others. The exhibition will be accompanied by public programs, including a special evening of “hauntological” music on October 29.
