Latest news: Ludwig Museum’ exhibition Slow Life. Radical Practices of the Everyday postponed
The idea of the exhibition Slow Life. Radical Practices of the Everyday was conceived almost two years ago and the Ludwig Museum’s curatorial team has been working on the preparation and implementation of the exhibition for months. At the time, we could not have guessed that with the nearly five-month exhibition and program series scheduled for April 2020, we would be dealing with topics that would become imminently close and pressing as a result of the global Covid-19 epidemic caused by the coronavirus. 'Slow-life' has all of a sudden become an everyday reality, a forced way of life in the global world.
As we put it in the invitation to the exhibition, “The slow approach represents a need to rethink existing structures and reorganize established practices in the fields of society, economy and everyday life alike. Its essence can be best expressed by consciousness and a critical attitude, from ethical consumption and voluntary simplicity to the concept of a no-growth economy”. The “Quarantine of consumption”, the Stay Home Movement, the decline in air travel, the slowing economy are just some of the unexpected consequences of the virus, which ruthlessly point to the positive effects of slower life, but also pose enormous challenges to humanity.
The works selected for the exhibition resonate sensitively with current events in the world. Of the works that have gained particular relevance, ex-artist’s collective’s (Tamás Kaszás and Anikó Lóránt) installation Famine Food intended for the event of a possible economic and ecological collapse, for example, was considered to be dystopian vision in the year of its creation, in 2010, but today it illustrates the need for a radical transformation of our living conditions and consumption patterns. Slovak artist Oto Hudec’s latest work We are the Garden tells the story of a man and a child living alone in the aftermath of the climate crisis, without knowing whether there are other survivors besides them. The lost connection between nature and man is symbolized by a garden attached to their house, which supplies their home with clean air as a closed biosphere. The installation occupying a whole room is on the border between reality and fiction, using objects, paintings and a video to evoke a world in which the former conditions of life have ceased to exist, yet the most distressing feeling is isolation from society, and infinite loneliness.
The current situation also affects the preparation and implementation of the exhibition, as well as the opening event and the form of the planned programs. As soon as circumstances allow, the exhibition will be completed, but the opening scheduled for April 8 will be postponed.
We will do our best to compensate our visitors with an intensive online presence and provide detailed content about the background of the exhibition, the workflow, the artists involved in the project and the museum’s everyday life. Content related to the exhibition will be available soon at www.slowlife.ludwigmuseum.hu.
Exhibiting artists:
Bartha Gabó | Benczúr Emese | Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan | Ursula Biemann & Paulo Tavares | Erdei Krisztina | ex-artists' collective (Tamás Kaszás – Anikó Loránt) | Manfred Erjautz | Horváth Gideon | Oto Hudec | Kaszás Tamás | Koronczi Endre | Lakner Antal | Diana Lelonek | Petra Maitz | Mátyási Péter | Oliver Ressler | Schuller Judit Flóra | Szabó Eszter Ágnes & Syporca Whandal | Süveges Rita | Lois Weinberger | Zilahi Anna
The curatorial team of Ludwig Museum
