Exhibition "The rotten smell is you"

Artists:

Kristina Bajilo, Nikola Balberčakova, Sofija Đovanoti, Đejmi Hadrović, Aja Janković, Workgroup 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 opening of the exhibition, a pole dance lecture performance by Aja Janković will be performed 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 changes compared to its first realization at Kunsthalle Bratislava (5.9-16.10.2023). The artistic positions are 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 reaction and urgency to react to the growing sympathies and ambiguities related to the rise of right-wing movements in the year 2024. By exploring and discovering internal disagreements and generational gaps within the feminist movement, this exhibition explores the essential issue of appropriation by the right and mirror worlds, post-truths, and conspiracy theories. Nevertheless, The rotten smell is you builds a unique narrative, connecting different experiences and perspectives to analyze the divide between third and fourth wave feminists, most commonly observed through discourses on transgender identity, sex work, and hyper-femininity.

*In her recent book Dopelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World, Naomi Klein defines the term Mirror World describing our destabilized present full of doppelgängers and confusion; where extreme right-wing movements express declarative solidarity with the working class; AI-generated content blurs the boundary 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 doubles in the realm of social media.