Exhibition "The rotten smell is you"

Artists:

Kristina Bajilo, Nikola Balberchakova, Sophia Djovanoti, Jamie Hadrovic, Aja Jankovic, Working group Merlinka (Pavle Banovic, Marija Iva Gocic, Lea Rivka Lapiover, Sara Pantovic, Chloe Sasi), Milica Mijajlovic Zivkovic, Penny Key, Jessica Stoja, Zuzana Svatik

Curator: Jelisaveta Rapaic

*At the exhibition opening, there will be a pole dance lecture performance by Aja Jankovic, 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 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 reaction and urgency to react to the growing sympathies and uncertainties 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 explores the essential issue of appropriation by the right and mirror worlds, post-truth and conspiracy theories. However, The rotten smell is you builds a unique narrative, connecting different experiences and perspectives to analyze the division between third and fourth wave feminists, most commonly observed through discourses on transgender issues, sex work, and hyper-femininity.

*In her recent book Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World, Naomi Klein defines the Mirror World concept 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 true and false; 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.