This publication documents Rivane Neuenschwander's first comprehensive solo exhibition in the
German-speaking world. The artist born in Brazil in 1967 traces fears and hopes in her
multifaceted work showing how they shape people and societies. Her work is characterized by a
keen interest in cultural psychological and sociological issues. The full breadth of her
interests is re- flected in this publication. It includes a conversation with Christiane
Meyer-Stoll that took place over the entire exhibition period providing an in-depth insight
into Neuenschwander's understanding of herself as an artist an essay by the Portuguese
sociologist Boaventura de Sousa Santos deals with the Uncertainty Between Fear and Hope the
cut-up poems by writer Anna Ospelt - an outgrowth of the exhibition - testify to
Neuenschwander's trust in the power of poetry which permeates her entire oeuvre as does the
title knife does not cut fire which is taken from a poem by the lyricist Herberto Helder.
