Protection No Longer Assured

🌋I am glad that my drawing “Happy were those who dwelt within the eye of the volcanos” is part of a fantastic exhibition at Espacio Solo, where you can also enjoy works by Ruby Sweeney, David Altmejd, Paco Pomet, Rinus Van de Velde, Hugo Alonso, Mika Rottenberg and many more…

How does it feel to stand on the edge of an abyss? Gazing into the vastness, an adrenaline rush of mixed emotions takes hold, as awe, excitement and wonder are intensified by sheer terror. This paradoxical experience of being at once overwhelmed and exalted has a special place in Western thought: the concept of the sublime.

Some 2000 years ago, the Greek rhetorician Longinus set out a theory of the sublime in his treatise, Peri Hypsous. Rediscovered during the Italian Renaissance, then developed by countless thinkers including Nicolas Boileau, Edmund Burke and Immanuel Kant, sublimity has a colourful history. Now, overuse threatens to render the concept void, with anything from cupcakes to massage oil susceptible to a #sublime tag.

In a present-day shaped by disruptive technologies and disinformation, armed conflict and environmental collapse, Protection No Longer Assured revisits the sublime notion of delightful horror through a selection of 63 artworks by 31 artists, across media including sculpture, painting, sound and AI art. Wit and reflection come together in this stroll along the brink, through a thought-provoking landscape of mushroom clouds, AI-generated artworks and post-natural creatures.

From May 10th at Espacio SOLO.
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