Crime and Punishment exhibition curated by Predrag Pajdic

video artwork by Jean-Gabriel Periot
photo © Daniel Holfeld

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted; and a community is infinitely more brutalised by the habitual employment of punishment than it is by the occasional occurrence of crime."Oscar Wilde

Crime is defined as an action or omission that constitutes an offence that may be prosecuted by the state and is punishable by law. Punishment is a penalty for wrongdoing or misconduct, in particular for crime.
But who decides what crime is?
Is punishment the only way to respond to it?
Could crime be observed as an absolute evil and punishment as the ultimate human way to deal with it?
Do punishments fit their crimes?
Should justice be equal punishment?

Through conceptual works, video installations, photography and live performances, a group of international artists examine the relationship between crime and punishment in a political historical, ethical, social and psychological context.

If on a chart, crime is white and punishment black, the grey in between is what this project is focusing on. Crime & Punishment – The Sequel is a nail-biting thought-provoking exhibition conceived not to judge or even glorify justice but challenging it by entering into an edgy and uneasy zone. This territory of examinations will also touch upon guilt, shame, harm, injury, disgrace, quarrel, humiliation, vengeance, abuse, misuse, imprisonment, condemnation, morals, dominance, force, pain as well as pleasure of groups or individuals blinded by their own rigid rules and beliefs.

The project has been organised in association with Drugo More, a non-profit organisation from Rijeka, Croatia, focusing on production, promotion, research, education and the dissemination of information in the field of independent contemporary culture and theory.

photographs from the series Michele Smoking by Daniel Holfeld, 2008 © Daniel Holfeld — photographs from the series Michele Smoking by Daniel Holfeld, 2008
© Daniel Holfeld

photo from the series Michele Smoking by Daniel Holfeld, 2008 © Daniel Holfeld — photo from the series Michele Smoking by Daniel Holfeld, 2008
© Daniel Holfeld

"Sit In The Corner Until You're Told" photo by Dom Agius, 2006
© Dom Agius

photo © Daniel Holfeld

"All the Places I've been raped" a poet by Barney Ashton portrait of Barney Ashton © Dom Agius — "All the Places I've been raped" a poet by Barney Ashton
portrait of Barney Ashton © Dom Agius

praying in the gallery by Dom Agius© Dom Agius — praying in the gallery by Dom Agius
© Dom Agius

photographs by Dom Agius © Dom Agius — photographs by Dom Agius
© Dom Agius

About Predrag Pajdic
Predrag Pajdic (born in September the 10th of 1965, S. Brod, Yugoslavia) is a London based art historian and curator, who has been exhibiting and curating in the UK and internationally, as well as writing and lecturing on contemporary art.He was also one of the judges for the prestigious South African contemporary art award Spier Contemporary 2007.

Pajdic's curatorial works include:

PARANOIA, critically acclaimed touring group exhibition with 42 international artists. Freud Museum, London, 2006/07.
THIS DAY, 9 screening programmes and live performances with short film and videos relating to the Middle East, Tate Modern, London, 2007.
UNDO, group exhibition about conflict, tension and bereavement with international artists, Dazed Gallery, London, 2007.
RECOGNISE, a group exhibition with more than 40 international artists examining misunderstandings and preconceptions about the Middle East, Contemporary Art Platform, London, 2007
BOUND a group exhibition with international artists that explores enslavement from historical references to modern-day bondage, various locations Liverpool, 2007 CRIMES & SPLENDORS, a group exhibition, Ron Mandos Gallery, Amsterdam, 2007
UNBOUND, a group exhibition challenging the notion of democracy, freedom of speech and action in the West, Contemporary Art Platform, London, 2007 CRIME & PUNISHMENT, a group exhibition on the subject, 198 Contemporary Arts & Learning, London, 2008
PAYING MY ELECTRICITY BILL, solo show by Nemanja Cvijanovic, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka, Croatia. 2007
DOGMA, a group exhibition reflecting upon rigid beliefs in relation to religious and political doctrines
LIMBO, a project about psycho-geographical void as a social, political and historical condition
CONFRONTING BARRIERS: Truth, Allegory and a Feeling of Home, an exhibition about the West and its attitude towards immigration today A-PART-HATE, examining policies and systems of segregation or discrimination in contemporary world.