EXHIBITION

Slow Future

Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, 06/28/2014 - 09/14/2014

ABOUT

The theme of the exhibition SLOW FUTURE is degrowth, a social movement advocating that we should abandon the current model of compulsory economic growth and search for ways to improve the quality of life within the limits of capacity of natural environment. The promoters of degrowth, also known as degrowthists, question the supreme value of material possessions and propose alternative models of economy - barter, cooperatives, co-ownership, and community exchange. According to them, it is mistaken to think that economic growth is indispensable for development and that it is the most important goal that everyone should pursue. Supporters of the idea of degrowth believe that it is precisely unrestrained consumption that aggravates social inequalities, not to mention irreversible damage to natural environment. Through their lifestyles, they are trying to oppose the universal pursuit of growth (in development and in economics), which according to them, creates far more social harm than objective benefits. In order to cut down consumption, we don’t have to make sacrifices or reduce our quality of life. It would be enough to use alternative means and methods at a larger scale, such as: recycling, green transport, converting deserted buildings into flats; and finally - to engage local organizations in decision-making processes relating to changes in public space. In times of economic crisis, such concepts become highly appreciated and inspire artists from all over the world.

The exhibition is a follow-up of the "Emergency Pavilion - Rebuilding Utopia" (2013) show in Teatro Fondamenta Nuove during the last year’s Venice Biennale. Its curator, Jota Castro (born in Lima, Peru, 1965) is a French-Peruvian artist-activist. In his work, he often reveals the mechanisms of contemporary consumption and examines social issues in the context of sustainable development, ecology, as well as alternative models of economic exchange. The majority of works presented at the Slow Future exhibition are new works by about twenty artists.

The exhibition is accompanied by a bilingual catalog containing texts by such authors as Michał Augustyn, Jota Castro, Claudia Pareja, Pierre Raahbi.
 

The exhibition SLOW FUTURE opens in conjunction with the commencement of the third edition of the project "Green Jazdów.Green Market."

 

Artwork featured above: David Zink Yi, The Strangers, 2014. Still from two-channel video installation. Courtesy of Hauser & Wirth, London, New York, Zurich / Johann Koenig, Berlin / 80M2 Livia Benavides, Lima.

 

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