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, Jessica Stoja, Zuzana Svatik

Curator: Jelisaveta Rapaić

At the opening of the exhibition, a pole dance lecture performance by Aja Janković will be performed, starting at 7:30 p.m.

The second presentation of the exhibition The rotten smell is you, realized in collaboration with the Cultural Center of Belgrade, brings certain changes compared to its first realization at Kunsthalle Bratislava (5.9-16.10.2023). Artistic positions have been carefully adapted to include additional geographies and histories 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 uncertainties related to the rise of right-wing movements in 2024. By researching and uncovering internal disagreements and generational gaps within the feminist movement, this exhibition explores the fundamental issue of appropriation by the right and mirror worlds, post-truths, and conspiracy theories. Nevertheless, The rotten smell is you builds a unique narrative, bringing together different experiences and perspectives to analyze the division between third and fourth-wave feminists, most often noticed through discourses on transgender identity, 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 doppelgangers and confusion; where extreme right-wing movements express declarative solidarity with the working class; AI-generated content blurs the line between real and fake; New Age entrepreneurs turned anti-vaxxers continue to disrupt our familiar political allegiances; while many of us project our carefully curated digital doppelgangers in the realm of social media.