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, Penny Kay, Jessica Stoja, Zuzana Svatik

Curator: Jelisaveta Rapaić

At the exhibition opening, a half-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 Belgrade Cultural Center, brings certain changes compared to its first realization at Kunsthalle Bratislava (9/5-10/16/2023). The artistic positions have been carefully adapted to include additional geographies and histories in order to emphasize the void that occurs within the local context. The new edition of the exhibition is also created 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 exploring and uncovering internal disagreements and generational gaps within the feminist movement, this exhibition examines the essential issue 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, most commonly observed through the discourse on transgender issues, sex work, and hyper-femininity.

*In her recent book Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World, Naomi Klein defines the term 'mirror world' describing our destabilized present full of doubles and confusion; where extremely 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 leanings; while many of us project our own carefully curated digital doubles in the realm of social media.