Exhibition: Really? Art and Knowledge in Time of Crisis

Really? Art and Knowledge in Time of Crisis. Graphic Design by Ruben Pater.

23 Jun –
29 Sep 2024

Exhibition: Really? Art and Knowledge in Time of Crisis

Opening on 22 June 2024 at Framer Framed, the exhibition Really? Art and Knowledge in Time of Crisis looks at the ways in which knowledge is used in a political game where manipulation and obfuscation is the norm rather than the exception. It poses fundamental questions on what it means to know and not know, while being acutely aware of the fragmentation and relativisation of knowledge in a multipolar world. The exhibition is curated by Mi You and David Garcia.

Since the 1970s, social movements that include anti-colonial, feminist, queer and class have challenged the belief in linear progress, scientific rationality and a singular view of history. Truth claims can no longer be made without question. However, underlying many issues there is still a broad basis of scientific evidence. The ongoing shift in authority – with the questioning of the modernist ideal of progress and new takes on historical events – has brought with it uncertainty and unpredictability.

The rise of the 24-hour news cycle- and social media, the exploitation of public systems and the manipulation of data and opinions are key factors undermining belief in social progress and scientific rationality contributing to a widespread collapse of public trust in the institutions that are supposed to ‘know’.

At a time when populists and demagogues routinely denounce experts and expertise, a movement of interdisciplinary artists has emerged whose work unapologetically foregrounds knowledge, factual analysis and evidence. Spanning different generations – from emerging artists to others who have been active for decades – they have crystalised into a research-driven movement that one of the exhibition’s participating artists, Paolo Cirio, has dubbed ‘Evidential Realism’.

Really? Art and Knowledge in Time of Crisis (2024) includes but goes beyond works based on forensic methods, and historical studies – practices in which artists as civil actors participate in creating new ways of knowing. Central to Really? is the realisation that we are in the midst of a crisis in knowledge and a crisis in politics, which are one and the same thing. The exhibition aims to expand a space of practical reasoning, recognising that knowledge is not a zero-sum game. As much as we can and should validate facts in the public domain, we also need to learn to navigate when we are not knowing.

Terror Element by Anna Engelhardt & Mark Cinkevich in the exhibition, Really? Art and Knowledge in Time of Crisis (2024) at Framer Framed, Amsterdam. Photo: © Maarten Nauw / Framer Framed

Curators
Mi You
David Garcia

Participating Artists
Paolo Cirio
Anna Engelhardt & Mark Cinkevich
Jennifer Gradecki & Derek Curry
Ho Tzu Nyen
Zheng Mahler
RIWAQ
UKRAiNATV

Exhibition Design
Ruben Pater

Credits

Terror Element by Anna Engelhardt and Mark Cinkevich has been commissioned by Framer Framed with the support of the Nederlands Filmfonds and Stimuleringsfonds voor Creatieve Industrie as part of the collaborative project Immerse/Interact.

Supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science; Amsterdam Fund for the Arts; Municipality of Amsterdam; VriendenLoterij Fonds; Netherlands Film Fund; and Creative Industries Fund NL.