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MEG, mars 2012

Accueil > Expositions > Catastrophe Scenario

Catastrophe Scenario

From 28 March 2007 → 06 January 2008
MEG | Conches

The “Catastrophe Scenario” exhibition invites visitors to reflect on how human societies perceive, experience and interpret catastrophes through their various cultures. The Stoics long ago affirmed that it is not the event itself that causes distress but the perception that people have of it. To put it another way, what turns a hazard into a catastrophe is the presence and vulnerability of human beings.

Publications version française

The exhibition does not try to show catastrophes as such but rather the ways in which people seek to protect themselves from them, to deal with their occurrence and to cope with the aftermath. All societies attempt to prepare for catastrophes and to save themselves from the worst. However, when tragedy strikes, they organise themselves to deal with it collectively and make sense of what has happened. The destruction inflicted by a catastrophe exposes and often exacerbates the problems latent in every society. Yet, while such disasters may sweep away human structures, they also challenge civilisations to show their capacity to adapt and are thus an essential factor in cultural change and development. Though a catastrophe is perceived first of all as a drama that generates chaos, disorder and suffering, it can also mark a turning point, obliging people to make new connections thus generating change.

“Catastrophe Scenario” also shows that in all fields from the sacred to the profane, from politics to business, disaster often brings in its wake various responses and various actors with differing and ambiguous motivations.

Masque de pignon Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée, Moyen Sepik Les masques de pignon sont fixés sur la façade des habitations ou des maisons cérémonielles et ils représentent les esprits féminins claniques qui sont supposés protéger ses habitants des catastrophes. Musée d'ethnographie de Genève Photo: J. Watts

Depending on its conception of the world and time, its beliefs and its scientific model, each society will perceive catastrophe in different ways. What is true of the disasters of the past, deeply rooted in the collective memory, is equally true of those that are yet to come and that people would like to control. Scientific and philosophical points of view, political discourse, stories of the end of time, all illustrate this multifaceted reality. As old as mankind itself, catastrophe is now assuming an unprecedented significance in the face of the globalised environmental and social uncertainties of the 21st century.

Tout peut arriver !

“Catastrophe Scenario” is presented within the framework of “Tout peut arriver!”, a project organised in 2007 under the aegis of the Département des affaires culturelles de la Ville de Genève.

To see the full programme, simply go to www.toutpeutarriver.ch