there is no end to what a living world will demand of you*
07.07.2025
This curatorial research project revolves around the fragility of reality and life. It examines themes related to death and the anxiety surrounding it, the continuous decay leading to an end, the vulnerability of the human body, and the unsustainable forms of capitalist life established upon the ruins of collapsing infrastructures.
Engaging with artistic methodologies and tools, it will encourage artists to look at notions of dying or being alive through an anti-capitalist lens. In this context, life within capitalism is understood as an invention transformed into a commodity shaped by its own interpretation of value.
For instance, the structuring of time plays a central role in this transformation, reinforcing convictions around progress and growth that intensify feelings of anxiety encompassing our perception of the past, present, and future. This anxiety drives us to increase our production rates, often without realizing that the realities we are creating are founded on fragile grounds. This refers particularly to the concept of the future as a realm imbued with latent progress, implying a collective drive to produce, achieve, expand, and extract.
Viewing art as a powerful instrument of expression that transcends the limitations of linguistic structuring and the rationality of science, artists will have the time and space to uncover and articulate the connections that unite people despite their differences.
These connections are rooted in fundamental human experiences, such as the fear of death, declining physical abilities, the irreversible passage of time, exhaustion, and the loss of hope. Even though such conditions are universal, they are often overlooked or ignored in the public discourse.
For instance, the structuring of time plays a central role in this transformation, reinforcing convictions around progress and growth that intensify feelings of anxiety encompassing our perception of the past, present, and future. This anxiety drives us to increase our production rates, often without realizing that the realities we are creating are founded on fragile grounds. This refers particularly to the concept of the future as a realm imbued with latent progress, implying a collective drive to produce, achieve, expand, and extract.
Viewing art as a powerful instrument of expression that transcends the limitations of linguistic structuring and the rationality of science, artists will have the time and space to uncover and articulate the connections that unite people despite their differences.
These connections are rooted in fundamental human experiences, such as the fear of death, declining physical abilities, the irreversible passage of time, exhaustion, and the loss of hope. Even though such conditions are universal, they are often overlooked or ignored in the public discourse.
Digital Illustration: Ahmad Darkhabani, 2025.
Asking “What are the capacities of the human body and psyche, and how are these stretched or strained in service of the capitalist machine?”, artists will build narratives and imaginaries about a world in which we learn to accept the fragility of our own bodies. They will explore what kinds of care systems might emerge if our relationships were grounded in recognizing and accepting each other’s capacities and limitations. Furthermore, artists will reflect on the slow process of deterioration toward an end, thinking about death as a force that defines the rhythm and meaning of being alive.
The curatorial research project is inspired by the themes of ending or dying in the novel White Noise by Don DeLillo (1985). The novel captures the postmodern era of hyper-consumerism, centering on two characters haunted by the fear of their lives moving to an end. The interplay between the shallowness of contemporary capitalist life and the constant fear of slowly vanishing into death was one of the main thematic explorations in the book. The characters’ absurd obsession with restraining their fear of dying demonstrates how, within the capitalist system, fear itself was transformed into a commodity, driving them into frivolous pursuits.
* The title is a quote from Octavia Butler’s novel Parable of the Sower (1993)
The curatorial research project is inspired by the themes of ending or dying in the novel White Noise by Don DeLillo (1985). The novel captures the postmodern era of hyper-consumerism, centering on two characters haunted by the fear of their lives moving to an end. The interplay between the shallowness of contemporary capitalist life and the constant fear of slowly vanishing into death was one of the main thematic explorations in the book. The characters’ absurd obsession with restraining their fear of dying demonstrates how, within the capitalist system, fear itself was transformed into a commodity, driving them into frivolous pursuits.
* The title is a quote from Octavia Butler’s novel Parable of the Sower (1993)
