grow up, they said

In our 20s, “adulthood” often seems less like a stable state and more like a fragile construct. The aspiration to be ‘adult’ – autonomous and self-determined – easily tips over into feeling overwhelmed and the sense of having to function constantly. This awakens a quiet but persistent longing for feelings we associate with ‘childhood’ – security, innocence, irresponsibility, the confidence of not being alone.

Rosa Witt's solo exhibition deals with a collective, constructed ideal image of ‘childhood’ as a place of longing: a projection space that tells us less about the past than about what we lack today. 'Childhood' serves here as the antithesis to the impositions of adult realities – it becomes an imagined state in which decisions were made more intuitively, dependence was allowed, and community seemed self-evident. Even if many people do not long for their childhood, many share the desire for a place to switch off – for the feeling of being held and for a calming, ordering force that holds the world together.

This longing is understood as a reaction to social structures. The individualization driven by capitalism creates loneliness, while neoliberal self-optimization logic drives us into an endless demand for personal responsibility. Poverty, wars, fascism, and climate change are tangible burdens that limit our future prospects and options for action, giving rise to feelings of helplessness. The force of these political developments causes us to repeatedly doubt whether we can still exert any influence—and so we seek ways to escape.

Events
July 3: 7:00 p.m. Opening
July 4: 6:00 p.m. Artist Talk; 8:00 p.m. Screening
July 5: Creative Workshop (time tba)