Exhibition "The rotten smell is you"

Artists:

Kristina Bajilo, Nikola Balberčakova, Sofija Đovanoti, Đejmi Hadrović, Aja Janković, Work group 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 exhibition opening, there will be a pole dance lecture performance by Aja Janković, 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 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 emerges within the local context. This new edition of the exhibition also emerges as a direct reaction and urgency in response to the growing sympathies and ambiguities related to the rise of right-wing movements in 2024. By exploring and uncovering internal disagreements and generational gap within the feminist movement, this exhibition examines the essential issues of appropriation by the right and mirror worlds, post-truths, and conspiracy theories. However, The rotten smell is you constructs a unique narrative, connecting different experiences and perspectives to analyze the rift between third and fourth wave feminists, which is most often noticed through discourse on transgender issues, sex work, and hyper-femininity.

*In her recent book Dopelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World, Naomi Klein defines the term mirror world to describe our destabilized present full of duplicates 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 break our familiar political allegiance; while many of us project our carefully curated digital doubles in the realm of social media.