Staying With The Trouble

About

We (…) live in disturbing times, mixed-up times, troubling and turbid times. The task is to become capable, with each other (…) of response.

Staying with the trouble requires learning to be truly present… as mortal critters entwined in myriad unfinished configurations of places, times, matters, meanings.

(Donna J. Haraway)

Staying with the Trouble, inspired by a book by Donna J. Haraway, invites us to face our problems head-on, sharing them with others, and finding answers collaboratively. Although the book refers to the horrors of the global effects of Anthropocene and Capitalocene, this is an attempt to adapt the ideas expressed by the author to other ‘troubles’ too, more ‘local’ and personal.

Haraway defines speculative feminism as practice and process; it is becoming-with each other in surprising relays; it is a figure of ongoingness…The author argues that we need each other in unexpected collaborations and combinations; We become-with each other or not at all.

This exhibition attempts to link the disparate threads and ideas of women artists working in different times and geographic locations. This rhizomatic structure of connections takes us through the questions of what it means to be a woman today and how the questions and solutions have been relayed from previous generations. Be it facing the on-going dilemmas of working mothers, dealing with our biological body and unguarded emotions, societal conventions and restraints, it seems that all the ‘troubles’ facing women, are still current today. 

The artists in the exhibition address various ‘troubles’ using different media, often the feminine threads of fiber art using crochet, weaving and sawing, objects, performance, film or photography. Some reach out to ancient myths and tales, others to the history of art, ancient societies, science or personal experiences. From overtly figurative and ‘naked’ through modest and subtle to abstract, it is exciting to find the resonance between the artworks that at first may not be that obvious.

The participating artists are Güler Ates, Anna Baumgart, Ellen Friedlander, Anna Kutera, Katalin Ladik, Małgorzata Markiewicz, Anna Perach, Joanna Rajkowska, Su Richardson, Alicja Rogalska (in collaboration with Ana de Almeida and Vanja Smilijanic), Melania Toma, Teresa Tyszkiewicz, Agata Wieczorek, Anita Witek.