An exhibition conceived by Paul Virilio

Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris, until 30 March

http://www.fondation.cartier.fr/

Rating:

Nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the sinking of the Titanic, the explosion of the US space shuttle Challenger, the attacks on the World Trade Center, the UK foot and mouth crisis—all these have been brought together in an exhibition that explores the concept of the “accident.”

Unknown Quantity acknowledges that such catastrophes are rarely unpredictable or simply chance events, as the word accident might imply. And in this sense the thinking behind the exhibition is in line with that of the BMJ, which ran an editorial on this subject two years ago (2001;322:1320-1). But unlike the BMJ, which decided to ban the word, this exhibition does not take issue with it. However, it doesn't dwell …