Aug 09 - Sep 15, 2023
Galerie XY, Olomouc (CZ)
Groupshow with A204, Leili Aslanova, Judith Augustinovic, Anna Bochkova, Valerie Habsburg, Algiradas Jakas, Heiko Lietz, Maya Erin Masuda, Anne Meerpohl, Julia Metropolit, Bianca Pedrina, Bianca Phos, Vladimir Serykh, Elisabeth Sonneck
curated by Anna Bochkova
photography by Tomáš Jakubec
There is no bright future: instead, there are many utopian scenarios that have some similarities alongside the differences. Some of them are based on new social practices, while others recontextualise architectural or scientific ideas. However, this or that utopian model is purely individual. At the same time, there is another side to the coin. Behind the happy image of the future one always can find oppressed social groups, unfair distribution of resources, and other issues. In this context, the word “utopia” is often associated with the word “dystopia” (which is an antonym). It can be quite difficult to draw a clear distinction between them.
The word “utopia” has a Greek origin. It is formed from two words: from oὐ (“not”) and τόπος (“place”). It is usually used in the context of unrealistic dreams about the future. However, in terms of the exhibition, it is not a place or something static, but also a process, an idea, an event, an experiment, a movement of thought, a hypothesis, and a fantasy.
This project is a laboratory. Here artists, like scientists, try to predict how reality will change in the near (or not so-near) future. These forecasts are speculative and individual. Some of the artists believe that the new world will be based on collective memory, others explore its ecological aspects, and others represent the future world in the context of feminist, technocratic, and other theories. The artists in this exhibition do not offer a realistic vision of the future but show its (im)possible trajectories.
Vladimir Serych, 2023