The Doors of Perception

Post date: Mar 19, 2011 4:34:26 PM

January 21 - February 18, 2011

Opening reception: Thursday, January 20, from 7 p.m.

Artists: Sofia Izrael, Arkadiy Nasonov, Sergei Nikokoshev, Cora Piantoni, Maria Pomiansky

Curated by Anca Sinpalean

Concept

“That humanity at large will ever be able to dispense with Artificial Paradise seems very unlikely. Most men and women lead lives at the worst so painful, at the best so monotonous, poor and limited, that the urge to escape, the longing to transcend themselves if only for a few moments, is and has always been one of the principal appetites of the soul. Art and religion, carnivals and saturnalia, dancing and listening to oratory – all these have served, in H.G. Wells' phrase, as Doors in the Wall.” Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception

Under the title “The Doors of Perception” - a clear reference to Aldous Huxley's book bearing the same name – the exhibition investigates notions like unconsciousness, dreams, awakening, desire, fantasy, fears and changes in perception. Using different media and different narratives, the artworks will talk about moments of losing balance and seeking for a new perspective, moments that occur during dreams, panic, as a result of ecstatic experiences, alcohol, drugs, sensual pleasures, or simply by contemplating the Alps, a flower, or drinking a glass of water. The works investigate what happens when we become aware of what we have not been aware before. In those moments, attained by natural or artificial means, we manage to unmask the fictitious, unreal character of our “normal” consciousness, of our “normal” lives.  

It is good and healthy to sometimes question the things we normally take for granted and which present themselves as unquestionable evidence. After all, doubt is a primary tool for gaining knowledge, and we should not be afraid of it. Too much positivism has led humanity to strict rules, false hopes and other kinds of prisons. Everyone should wear, at least once in a life time, some sort of inversion glasses that would show them the world upside-down and thus destabilize their balance. We wear these glasses more often than we think: when we travel, we relocate, we fall in love, we dream, we drink etc. For someone attentive to the world around her, it is in fact hard not to have new perspectives on things every day.