Group Exhibition Every Day Matters

The participating artists are Adel Abdessemed, Kader Attia, Yto Barrada, David Claer­bout, Omer Fast, Shilpa Gupta, Emily Jacir, Christian Lemmerz, Moataz Nasr, Rivane Neuen­schwander, Gabriel Orozco, Damián Ortega, Raqs Media Collective and Liu Wei. The exhibition thus represents artists from the Middle East and Europe as well as South America and Asia.

The artists all take their point of departure in the experiences of everyday life. From their various specific geographical starting points and political, social or religious con­texts, their works are a combination of sociopolitical commentary, humorous gesture, poetic reflection and / or aesthetic strength.

The title of the exhibition, Every Day Matters, forms the framework for works that play against the fundamental existential condition that every day is important, and that reality has forced its way in as an artistic necessity. In areas with political unrest or other socio­economic challenges to human conditions of existence, art is often influenced by these circumstances. The artists' individual need and social commitment have both exerted a crucial influence on their works - through art they work with their past and present.

The global conflicts in their complexity play a role everywhere and become part of our every­day life through the flow of information and images from the media, thus taking on importance for our own history and memory. The works exhibited can be regarded as specific materializations of the world we live in - facilitating a gaze at our past, present and not least our future through their stance on various conflict-filled realities.

Several of the works included in Every Day Matters are made of everyday materials. Some of the artists use objects, which point to something familiar. With their wear and materiality the works can help to spur memories from the personal and the collective memory.

The works in Every Day Matters represent exploration and reflection by stopping and taking hold of something from the day, from history or from memory. Thus we can see the struggles of everyday life maintained, the repressed and marginalized given space, the fine and ephemeral perpetuated, stopped in the flow of time, given form in eye-opening and thought-provoking works that remind us that every day matters.