The Zachęta National Art Gallery is an institution whose mission is to popularize contemporary art as an important element of socio-cultural life. It is a place where the most interesting phenomena of 20th and 21st century art are presented.
The world around us is on fire. A figure with a stunned look drinks coffee and says: "This is good". The laughing memes that reconcile with the raging apocalypse are an expression of the belief that nature and the human world have the essence of the mythical phoenix, which is always reborn from the ashes. In many cultures, this fantastic animal was associated with solar deities and was thought to symbolize cyclical nature, immortality and the rebirth of life. For centuries, it has been believed that the phoenix burns at the end of its life in order to be reborn as a strong bird.
Global environmental crises are undermining the age-old belief in nature as a phoenix with an infinite capacity for regeneration. As Basque philosopher Michael Marder writes in his book The Phoenix Complex (2023), belief in rebirth is limiting and conservative, and the hope it embodies can be dangerous. This is because it implies that humans do not need to change anything or take any drastic measures because nature will take care of itself. Only a deep hopelessness can be a motivation for radical change.
The exhibition shows works by artists created after 2020 and is divided into two sections. The first section: "Flame" deals with the reality of multiple crises - climate, economy, society - conveyed through media images and the internet. Many of the works use a digital aesthetic and were created with the help of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, 3D design or robotics. In contrast, the second part, "Birth", shows speculative visions of an ecological-technological future, created in the spirit of the ideas of collectivism and post-humanitarian feminism, introducing utopian and solarpunk narratives.
March 15 to May 26, 2024
