Exhibition "The rotten smell is you"

Artists:

Kristina Bajilo, Nikola Balberčakova, Sofija Đovanoti, Đejmi Hadrović, Aja Janković, Working group Merlinka (Pavle Banović, Marija Iva Gocić, Lea Rivka Lapiover, Sara Pantović, Kloe Sasi), Milica Mijajlović Živković, Peni Kej, Džesika Stoja, Zuzana Svatik

Curator: Jelisaveta Rapaić

At the exhibition opening there will be a pole dance lecture performance by Aja Janković starting at 7:30 PM

The second presentation of the exhibition The rotten smell is you, realized in collaboration with the Cultural Center of Belgrade, brings certain modifications compared to its first realization at Kunsthalle Bratislava (9/5-10/16/2023). The artistic positions have been carefully adjusted to include additional geographies and histories in order to emphasize the void that occurs within the local context. The new edition of the exhibition also emerges as a direct response and urgency to react to the growing sympathies and ambiguities related to the rise of right-wing movements in 2024. By exploring and revealing internal disagreements and generational gaps within the feminist movement, this exhibition investigates the fundamental issues of appropriation by the right and mirror worlds, post-truths and conspiracy theories. However, The rotten smell is you builds a unique narrative, connecting different experiences and perspectives to analyze the rift between third and fourth wave feminists, often observed through discourse on transgenderism, sex work, and hyper-femininity.

*In her recent book Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World, Naomi Klein defines the term Mirror World to describe our destabilized present full of doubles and confusion; where extreme right-wing movements express declarative solidarity with the working class; content generated by artificial intelligence erases the boundary between real and fake; New Age entrepreneurs who have become anti-vaxxers continue to break our familiar political allegiances; while many of us project our carefully curated digital doubles in the realm of social media.