TWELVE GESTURES

12 Gestures – an exhibition by Anna Fabricius

One of the basic conditions for the sustainability of civilisation and human existence is the trust and faith in positive development. For the community and the individual, the promise of a more perfect society, a better quality of life and a happier future is the ammunition that makes the trials of the present bearable, meaningful and survivable. Since Sir Thomas More, these imagined, idealised worlds have been called utopias, i.e. no-places. And while the belief in a bright future is essential for the functioning of society, there are similarly strong desires attached to the stability of the existing order. The familiarity of the present feels comfortingly secure, while the obscurity of change is ominous. Negative visions of the future – dystopias – have been an integral part of the spiritual functioning of society since the beginning of history, but it’s the age of industrialisation and modernity when these dark futuristic worlds became familiar and popular. And by today utopias have become a commonplace of the uncertainty of our everyday existence.

Fabricius Anna’s exhibition ‘12 Gestures’ explores the faith in a bright future through large-scale landscapes and portraits. Her utopian/dystopian landscapes capture the ruins of places and spaces designed for the positive rituals of the (now present) future. Built in the 1970s, the futuristic building complex offered mobility, community togetherness and a high life for the Taiwanese elite, whose brief heyday was ended by the oil crisis. The images of the abandoned living spaces on the exhibition wall place the black-and-white portraits into a negative force field. These portraits display present tense gestures of a desired future. How do they see themselves 10 years from now? Their gestures incorporate the function of hope and orientation, depicting the most idealistic and favourable scenario in a single gesture. But can you call a gesture utopian? These utopias of unlimited possibilities are paralysed by the accelerating changes and crises of our world.