FAIRY TALES
25.11.24 –– 24.01.25

Fairy Tales is an itinerant exhibition about the construction and deconstruction of stories, myths and legends regarding identity and legacy. It traces the constant falling apart and re-emerging of stories we tell ourselves in order to survive. In hindsight, these necessary illusions often seem like fairy tales but they are far from neutral as they have had, have and will have a real impact in the construction of the self and societies. The understanding of reality is largely determined by our shared cultural horizon which manifests itself in many forms —that of language, imagery, religion or politics, among others — leading in most cases to the creation of a fiction that allow us to cope with the complexity of existence.

Curiously, the word person has its etymological roots in the Ancient Greek term prósopon that referred to the masks used by actors in theatre (pros = in front of and opos = face). In Latin, the equivalent word slightly shifted to persona which phonetically mirrors the wording per-sonare, or what is the same, to make or amplify sound. It turns out that the term that perhaps most emphatically encapsulates the modern idea of individuality, borrows its meaning from an ancient device used by actors to perform. Such a semantic pirouette somehow negates, or at least puts pressure, on widely socially accepted ideas such as the individual perception of the self. Under this light, the word person becomes somewhat a little bit more elusive and ambiguous, lessening core ideas such as the individual quest for authenticity, the construction of a unique personality and so on.

The same could be said about the notion of the Western modern state. Artificially manufactured throughout the course of the nineteenth century, newly formed parliamentary states made a conscious effort to produce a common cultural, social and political horizon with the aim of generating a shared identity with a strong sense of belonging among a disparate range of peoples and regions. The establishment of such a collective horizon allowed states to produce a fiction (an illusion, a narrative) that almost in no time the great majority eagerly adopted as their own. By looking back to folklore, customs, arts and crafts, as well as certain historical figures, states could both amalgamate communities, and more importantly, were able to trigger an emotional response that later lead to nationalistic effervescence.

Myths and religions have also been quite effective ways to fill in the gaps of our limited understanding of reality. By telling (or singing) understandable and relatable tales about the ungraspable mysteries of existence, societies and individuals have been able to cope with the unknown and carry on with their own lives. Reducing the ever complex realm of existence to human-like riddles or fables, have conformed a collective form of consciousness that conformably brings such fears at ease. And the list could go on, from the illusion of of time as a linear arrow that relentlessly moves in one direction or the understanding of reality as cause and effect, to the logic of late capitalism and technological advance that narrows to only a few the variables that structure our daily lives. The use of models, formulas and protocols create an illusionary sense of control and set in place ready-made recognisable frameworks that allows societies and individuals to live on.

The artworks on view use the framework of the fairy tale —or constructed narratives— to examine and question some of the gloomier aspects of our human condition. By creating alternative pasts, using displacement, and reciting existing conditions in unexpected ways, the artists turn reality into an entanglement of abstraction and desire. The artists in the show explore this tension through a variety of medium-specific perspectives that lead them to tackle a wide variety of issues from politics, migration and economics to architecture, history or science. This heterogeneity of approaches brings to mind what curator and researcher Chus Martínez wrote in her essay Clandestine Happiness: What Do We Mean by Artistic Research? (Index, 2010), when she introduces the idea of artistic research understood as an effort to understand reality by connecting disparate ideas systems and knowledges that would otherwise never intersect. Fairy Tales is a show where artists speculate productively in order to subvert existing narratives, dream of alternative futures and find a sense of agency.

Participating artists:

Marc Ming Chan
Jaehun Park
Jesse Siegel
Jan Tomza-Osiecki
Vanessa Van Obberghen
Carla Arocha and Stéphane Schraenen
Joe Blann
Suwon Lee
Vedran Kopljar (& parents)
Moka Lee