Re-enchantment brings together ten contemporary artists whose practices explore ways of re-enchanting the world, in response to the disenchantment that marked the 20th century.Through dream space, inversions between landscape and figure, and transgenerational research that reveals the history of invisibilised women, the artists on view seem to blur the division between the human and the non-human, language and materiality, reality and imagination, technology and the organic.
This softening of boundaries takes place through representation –– in the paintings of Ariana Papademetropoulos, Teresa Pągowska, and Manuel Mathieu, the animal, mineral and plant realms merge with human figures, expressing a strong desire to connect with nature –– but also in the very ethos of making. Angelika Loderer introduces aerial mycelium that consumes photographic images. In her fantastical sculptures, Shuyi Cao juxtaposes myriads of materials, from shells to bioplastics and glass. In her paintings, Olga Grotova includes earth and the imprint of plants associated with the memory of women forgotten by Soviet history. Bianca Bondi presents an installation of sand, salt and glass that crystallises for the duration of the exhibition. Wanda Mihuleac presents performative poems written with the substance of the words they describe. While artist duo Dorota Gawęda and Eglė Kulbokaitė have conceived a mirage installation in collaboration with AI.
By suggesting resonances between materials, shapes and colours, and by interacting with the gallery's natural light, this exhibition attempts to capture a process of enchantment and encourage inter-connectivity.
Featured artistsBianca Bondi Manuel Mathieu Shuyi Cao Wanda Mihuleac Gawęda Kulbokaitė Teresa Pągowska Olga Grotova Ariana Papademetropoulos Angelika Loderer