Identity – Zeitgeist exhibition
In the Zeitgeist exhibition, the works of the artists participating in last year’s second cycle are shown organized into four parts.
The exhibiting young contemporary artists created their works using the broadest range of the photographic toolkit and applying a diversity of techniques and new media. Their pieces deal with current issues and the problems of our environment as well as topics concerning their generational scope of interest. According to the curatorial concept, the artworks within Zeitgeist are presented in a thematic order organized under four titles: Post-truth, Anthropocene, Mystique, and Identity. The totality of the works together represent the Zeitgeist, or the spirit of our times defining the way of thinking, the aspirations, and the objectives of people living in the first quarter of the 21st century. (Judit Gellér and Emese Mucsi, curators)
IDENTITY
In certain life situations, it becomes important to ask the question: “Where is one’s place and what is one’s role and purpose in the world?” When a young artist is starting off their career, to be able to determine their attitude as an artist, it is an almost inevitable first step to identify and understand with their own character. The works chosen for the title Identity deal with the issues of individual and collective identity, self-awareness, self-reflection, and personal stories.
Among the artworks in this room, some resort to masks (Agata Wieczorek) hiding and transforming the face and the body of those who put them on to appear as a different personality, some others expose the same issue by using the photograph as a mirror, reflecting on the issue of selfies (Jessica Wolfelsperger). Reflecting on the changes in technology, certain works look for the answers to self-definition in a broader perspective: either on a global level or within the scope of national identity (Federico Ciamei), or through the study of post-war PTSD (Christel Thomsen). The majority of the pieces, however, typically give insights to intimate space, time and processes that are decisive in their lives (Matthew Thompson). They evoke their past and uncover their traumas and wounds (Ela Polkowska). They show us their intimate surroundings – the home they grew up, their parents and their children, their family and friends, the complexity of their personal network, and their manifold life situations (Hannamari Shakya, Inês Marinho). These kinds of self-exposures are more than just personal confessions.
Identity if considered self-definition or affiliation to some sort of moral principle or ideology can become a perpetually reconstructed life story. Whether you are observing photo series processing the artists’ past, or the ones that scrutinize present times, these revelatory works of art hide and offer the viewer many possibilities of identification.
Artists: Agata WIECZOREK (PL), Christel THOMSEN (DK/UK), Ela POLKOWSKA (PL), Federico CIAMEI (IT), Hannamari SHAKYA (FI), Inês MARINHO (PT), Jessica WOLFELSPERGER (CH/DE), Matthew THOMPSON (IE)