Second Modernity

Second modernity is a phrase coined by the German sociologist Ulrich Beck (1944), and is his word for the period after modernity. Re-modernity is a renaissance of modernity through realization that not all risks can be controlled. Family, politics, science, and religion were all institutions that promised protection from risks—both natural risks (earthquakes, floods, pandemics, environmental issues) and social risks (unemployment, divorce). In second modernity these systems become part of the problem, not the solution, since they cannot offer the same social integration as they did prior to the 1960s. Finally realising that this is the case, people can reassess the situation and try to come up with new solutions that better reflect the changes brought by this reflexive modernization.

The believe in second modernity is present in the work of the artist shown in this exhibition. Disruption and destruction of the contemporary society due to social changes and the idea that people have to find another way of living in a new world is the central theme.