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 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 initial realization at Kunsthalle Bratislava (5.9-16.10.2023). 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. This 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 uncovering internal disagreements and generational gaps within the feminist movement, this exhibition examines the fundamental issue of appropriation by the right and mirrored worlds, post-truth and conspiracy theories. However, The rotten smell is you constructs a unique narrative, combining different experiences and perspectives to analyze the divide 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 concept of the Mirror World to describe our destabilized present full of doubles and confusion; where far-right movements express declarative solidarity with the working class; AI-generated content blurs the line between true and false; New Age entrepreneurs, who have become anti-vaxxers, continue to shatter our familiar political allegiances; while many of us project our own carefully curated digital doubles in the realm of social media.