DOX PRAGUE

www.dox.cz

The ideological base for the exhibition is three sci-fi dystopias written in the 20th century. Each of them foreshadowed in their own way the terrifying vision of the future that has already occurred or is about to fulfil in our everyday reality… “Brave New World” (1931) by an English author Aldous Huxley, “1984” (1949) by Huxley’s compatriot George Orwell and “Fahrenheit 451” (1953) by Ray Bradbury will become as part of the exhibition the canon of the exposition that reflect the world of artificial categories of citizens, the omnipresent “Big Brother” as well as books – the bearers of memory, sentenced to disposal. The world is no longer a fanciful fiction, it became our reality: and we even find that the authors of these works were wrong, because they underestimated the future development! And they did so both in terms of development of (not only information) technology and with regard to the growth of the power of media, but also mainly from a psychological point of view. Humanity does not need to be manipulated by force anymore – they give up to the influence voluntarily now. In this constellation it suddenly appears that even art no longer stands up to its attributed “cathartic” function! (See Annex: Curatorial text and list of artists). The exhibition will be a sarcastic criticism of contemporary consumerism, unification, moving towards modern totalitarianism and resignation not only on individual freedom but also on responsibility. This criticism, however, is aimed not only at society as a whole, but also at the (re)assessment of the current role of art and artists. The exhibition will have due to its controversy, critical tone and theme issues affecting each individual the potential to reach and engage the general public; next to the ambition to provoke the visitor to reflect on his everyday existence the exhibition also aims to make contemporary art more approachable for new groups of visitors (e.g. with an emphasis on school groups). With its appeal to humanism as opposed to dehumanized, technocratic society it will support not only the perception of social and civic belonging, but it will also highlight the cultural diversity and it will be a general warning of increasing economic commodification of the society etc.

approximately 136 516 EUR