WHAT IS TO COME HAS ALREADY ARRIVED

Opening: May 22, 2014, at 20:00 h.
Date:
* North Cloister: May 23 - September 21, 2014
* Monument Zone: May 23 - November 9, 2014
Curator: Alicia Murría, Mariano Navarro y Juan Antonio Álvarez Reyes
Exhibition Session: The Common
Exhibition organised by: CAAC (Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo) and MUSAC (Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León) and KOLDO MITXELENA Kulturunea

Archivo 15 M · Cecilia Barriga · Sarah Browne · Carolina Caycedo · Peter Coffin¹ · Tacita Dean · David Diao · Druot, Lacaton & Vassal · Ecosistema urbano · Yona Friedman · Dionisio González · Tellervo Kalleinen & Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen · Regina de Miguel · Anna Moreno · Sarah Morris · Claire Pentecost · Mathias Poledna · Hito Steyerl · Mika Taanila · Alain Tanner · The Temple Crew · Stefanos Tsivopoulos · Mona Vatamanu & Florin Tudor · Zemos98

This project examines the circumstances of the present moment based on what we expect, hope for or intuit about the immediate future. The exhibition attempts to sketch possible channels of future progress which, though not necessarily opposed to the prevailing systems in contemporary societies, do present alternatives that herald the advent of a different civic status quo.

The show encompasses multiple disciplines, using videos, installations, paintings, drawings and photographs by twenty-odd international contemporary artists and collectives to reveal one of the potential faces of utopia in today's world. It is therefore essentially a showcase of proposals, though it is also liberally sprinkled with elements that encourage us to reconsider the ethos of modernity and how our notion of progress changed during the most frenetic years of activity in the past century.

The exhibition is divided into three closely interrelated sections. The first, Reactivating Utopia, addresses the possibility of imagining new utopias and utopian horizons, as opposed to the idea of an immovable reality delineated by neoliberalism, the consequence of which is the progressive emaciation of democracy. The second, entitled Modernity: A Work-in-Progress?, examines certain ideas derived from the legacy of modernity-some of which date back to the 1960s and 70s-that proposed different methods of development and coexistence for an immediate future, and investigates their possible relevance for the necessary resurgence of a transformative way of thinking.

In the third and final segment, The Future Is Already Here, phases chanted by the crowds and slogans repeated at mass gatherings and demonstrations, such as "They don't represent us" or "Yes, we can", encapsulate a radical malaise that has penetrated to the core of our society after years of suffering what has been called the first major crisis of globalization, revealing the fragility of nation-states and the inability of international government structures to prevent, mitigate or redirect its consequences other than by demanding sacrifices of ordinary citizens. The pieces included in this section use strategies of intervention and collaboration to instigate change through creative democratization.

What Is to Come Has Already Arrived is the second instalment of a project that began with the exhibition entitled Without Reality There Is No Utopia, which opened at the CAAC in 2011 and travelled to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, USA, in 2013.

 

ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTATION

[Exhibitions Labels]

[Press Dossier]

[High Resolution Images]

[Photo Album on Flickr]

 

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1- Peter Coffin's installation Grow Your Own: Micronations, Concept Nations, and Independent Sovereign States from Around the World at CAAC consists of materials granted by the following micronations:

Amorph / YKON, AVL-Ville, Christiania, The Civilization of Llhuros, Commonwealth of New Island, The Conch Republic, The Empire of Atlantium, EVRU (Evrugo Mental State), The Foreign Culture Institute, Fusa, Glacier Republic, Grand Duchy of Pinsk, The Independent State of Okinawa, The Inner Realm of Patria, The Kalakuta Republic (Fela Anikulapo Kuti), Kingdom of Araucania and Patagonia / The Mapuche Nation, Kingdom of Bannesled, The Kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland, The Kingdom of Elleore, The Kingdom of EnenKio, Kingdom of Humanity, The Kingdom of Talossa, Ladonia, The Lost Colony of Antarctica, The Muster (Allison Smith), Nadiria, Naminara Republic, Neutral Capital (Peter Simensky), The New Free State of Caroline, The New United States of America, Nutopia (John Lennon y Yoko Ono), Principality of Freedonia, The Principality of Nova Arcadia, Principality of Sealand, Principality of Trinidad, República de Whangamomona, The Republic of Anodyne, The Republic of Georgia, República de la isla de las Rosas, Republic of Kugelmugel, Republic of Lakotah, The Republic of Mauritius, The Republic of Molossia, Republic of Perejil-Leyla, Seborga, The State of Jefferson, The State of Kirpikistan, State of NSK, The State of Sabotage, Sultanate of Upper Yaffa, Transnational Republic, United Independent State of the East River, The United States of Islam, World Citizen.