State of Emergence
Alaa Mansour, Anatoliy Belov, Borys Kashapov, Katia Lesiv, Katia Lysovenko, Katya Grokhovsky, Ksenia Hnylytska, Lesia Vasylchenko, Luba Drozd, Maria Kulikovska, Nikita Kadan, Nona Inescu, Oksana Kazmina, Palliative Turn, Rachel Monosov, Slinko, Terrence Musekiwa, Yulia Krivich, Xavier Robles de Medina, UKRAïNATV
Alaa Mansour
Dreaming of the End and the Ultimate Triumph, 2023
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OPENING RECEPTION:
FRI. OCT. 20, 2023 | 6-9 PM
Curatorial Tour will begin at 6pm sharp
NADA East Broadway
311 East Broadway, New York
Let’s believe in the law of the conservation of energy. Everything that’s violently wiped out evolves into something new, unexpectedly beautiful, unconditionally powerful. Let’s notice that out of the debris of devastated worlds, new fragile constellations relentlessly emerge. They need to be nourished.
A state of emergency is declared by governments when extreme danger is present: war, natural disasters, pandemics, civil unrest. Justified by the presence of a life threat, it authorizes policies otherwise regarded as a violation of human rights. It is a condition within which both life and death are heavily regulated in the name of safety for the citizens—or safety for the State itself.
Emergencies can also go undeclared and unacknowledged. Today’s global ecological collapse, the slow violence leading to the extinction of entire populations, environmental and social degradation all conveniently perceived as normality.
The Russian genocidal war against Ukraine became yet further proof that universal human rights are not that universal. Despite proclamations of universal human rights, the right to violence is secured by weapons and control of resources, while the right to life, even if often declared, is not equally guaranteed. When profit is on the line, the environment in which we live turns into a “ environment of terror” in front of our eyes. Should
we acknowledge that, despite the modern obsession with well-being, it is extinction that in fact constitutes the tedium of our present?
What should we do with this bitter knowledge?
Taking the war in Ukraine as a point of departure, we invite you to think about the future of our perilous coexistence on this endangered planet we share. Should we listen in to the disaster to hear the answers? Can we learn something about life and ourselves by looking death in the face? Can despair be enlightening? Are we able to turn injustice into the fuel for liberating rage?
If the catastrophe is our home, how do we live in it? Can the vulnerability of the weak and endangered become a soil where the seeds of a gentler world will grow?
— Text by Lesia Kulchynska