Order & Chaos

We are currently experiencing a “Degree Zero”, a kind of recurring and permanent rock bottom. It took a while for the great utopias of the 20th century to collapse in the face of pitiful realizations. What happened more quickly was the subsequent sell-out of values – of profession as calling, the family as the fundamental social, the precedence of public spirit over self-interest, regional roots as an anchor, a means of orientation – thus the sell-out of ethics and morals. In the midst of a rapidly globalizing market, in the midst of crumbling communities, in the midst of abortive attempts to establish a new world order, we are faced with an (individually and socially) shattered identity that not even money, clothes, discos, sex, holidays, cars – i.e., all the purchasable consumer identities – can alleviate more than fleetingly. In this “zero situation”, issues connected with identity, stability and order and the co-ordinates of thought and life become increasingly urgent.

The artists represented in this exhibition are all concerned, in their different ways, with this condition, portraying it in graphic terms, searching for patterns of order and self-assurance, and confronting us with the horror concealed in (or revealed by) the situation – in concrete, abstract, documentary or theatrical ways. Together, the work of these young artists represents an attempt to come to grips with the realities of our day and age, to reveal fragments and principles of our existence – without, however, overloading it with weighty implications.

With Sonja Braas, Nanna Hänninen, Marjaana Kella, Inés Lombardi, Marianne Müller, Juha Nenonen, Sophy Rickett and Janaina Tschäpe.