still utopia: broken links
Jan. 14th from 6 to 8 pm: Held Line Space with Gallery MC is pleased to present still utopia: broken links, the second exhibition project of Still Utopia+Exquisite Corpse Collective, with 24 participating artists
Held Line Space with Gallery MC is pleased to present still utopia: broken links, the second exhibition project of Still Utopia+Exquisite Corpse Collective, with 24 participating artists. In times of profound miscommunication, misinformation and division, we uphold the utopian vision of gathering, recovering, recomposing, and healing the broken links that connect the loose ends of the multiple narratives produced by communities of human beings over time. At the same time, we accept the possibility that flaws, mistakes, and misunderstandings may quietly erode and redirect original intentions, reshaping them through the very rules meant to contain them.
Together with individual works on paper and other media, a collective Infinitive Quilt inspired by the Surrealist game of the Cadavre Exquis*, extends the parlor game (of which we celebrate the hundredth anniversary) to an open-ended, multi-directional and polyphonic tapestry of shared imagination. Each drawing adds to a living archive, where images flow, intersect, and evolve beyond traditional boundaries.
About the Collective
Still Utopia + The Exquisite Corpse Collective is a consortium of artists** dedicated to curating and organizing collaborative exhibitions inspired by the Surrealist game of the Exquisite Corpse/Cadavre Exquis. Our exhibitions evolve and shift over time, creating alternative models for collaborative art that push the boundaries of drawing. By reaching out to artists and venues globally, we emphasize the beauty of connectivity and direct artistic interactions.
Participating Artists:
Aga Ousseinov • Jean Weissglass • Michel Kanter • Predrag Dimitrijevic • David Dixon • Gorazd Poposki • Gwenael Kerlidou • Tomas Vu • Brian Novatny • Noah Loesberg • Deanna Lee • Tricia Keightley • Daniel Davidson • Jennifer Nuss • Nils Karsten • Steve DeFrank • Malte Saenger • Derick Melander • Ray Oglesby • Simonetta Moro • Rebecca Hackemann • Brian Miller • Yohanna M. Roa • Alice Garik • Heide Fasnacht
*Definition of Exquisite Corpse (From the Tate Gallery website):Cadavre exquis (exquisite corpse) is a collaborative drawing approach first used by surrealist artists to create bizarre and intuitive drawings. Cadavre exquis is similar to the old parlour game consequences – in which players write in turn on a sheet of paper, fold to conceal what they have written, and pass it on to the next player – but adapted so that parts of the body are drawn instead. It was invented in 1925 in Paris by the surrealists Yves Tanguy, Jacques Prévert, André Breton and Marcel Duchamp. The name ‘cadavre exquis’ was derived from a phrase that resulted when they first played the game, ‘le cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau’ (‘the exquisite corpse will drink the new wine’).
**Still Utopia was founded in 2018 by Simonetta Moro and Aga Ousseinov; The Exquisite Corpse Collective includes the above, plus Brian Novatny (DRAW) and Nils Karsten.
