DE$IRE

About

DE$IRE features works which explore contemporary sexual ideologies: our understanding and expressions of our sexuality as defined or constricted by society and as shaped by the saturation of sex and sexuality into mass media channels. Amongst the featured work in the exhibition is Daniel Edwards' widely publicized new sculpture of Angelina Jolie, the public epitome of female sensuality, to be exhibited for the first time in Europe. Nicolas Ruston's room-sized installation Euphoria raises questions about the divisions between fiction and reality and questions the idea of forced euphoria and sex as a commodity, with references to the pornography industry and the Josef Fritzl case. The exhibition will also feature new work by Columbia 2008 MFA graduate Alyssa Pheobus, whose work is being exhibited in Europe for the first time. Pheobus' intricate drawings examine the language of desire. Noritoshi Hirakawa's voyeuristic photographs challenge mainstream conceptions of sexuality and what is acceptable. The photographs examine the concept of reconciling one's private and public self in the establishment of sexual identity.