The contemporary age is filled with uncertainty. This is also one of the reasons why our interest in the utopian has re-emerged, as frequently is the case in difficult times such as these.
We want to avoid assessing the progress of the genre. Nor do we want to critically deal with modernity or the mechanisms of the contemporary world, as frequently is the case of present day projects that touch up on similar issues. In comparison our goal is modest or possibly more ambitious, depending on the angle of view. For once, let’s try and forget on past failures and victories and perceive the “present condition” as our point of departure. There is room for improvement and a long journey ahead of us. At this point doubts streaming from our commitment to resolve issues under scrutiny arise. It thus comes as no surprise that the idea to hide away and wait for the problem to pass comes to many peoples mind. However, our craving for a better future is imbedded in our human nature; we can thus be certain that the craving will find us even in the darkest of corners. There is no need to search, we will be found.
The impossibility to capture the multiple levels of the utopian in one frame is mirrored though out the exhibition. It is positioned on the border between hope and skepticism, political action and philosophical contemplation, sarcasm and compassion… In the exhibition we can find works that deal with universal issues of the social or the political – their form is however too delicate to categorize them as engaged art. They are engaged, yet their engagement is more connected to personal responsibility rather than to a form of open battle.
We should admit that the impact of art on the social sphere is limited. From the moment when art became conducted by its own rules it became understood as a heterogeneous and socially inappropriate zone. But where else than as part of this microcosm can we obtain a sufficient distance in order to be able to perceive this system as radically alien? Once this shift in perception takes place we can once again imagine something different than what is offered by every day reality. Every gallery and exhibition can thus serve as a laboratory where new images, which embody our desires – including ours, can be produced and attested.
