Many things that helped earlier generations to grow up are suspect to us today or are critically questioned: driving, wearing high heels, drinking alcohol, having sex, flirting, making jokes and and and! The way we dress, we not only often look like children; we also think and feel – naively or precociously – like them. We prefer to have no gender at all. Bad words and small gestures (“microaggressions”) hurt us quickly. We let ourselves be warned against smoking and “adult language,” and we let ourselves be told by children how the planet should proceed in the future. The only thing that could free us from our new, post-adult childishness would be to look it in the eye, take note of its reality and smile a little lovingly about it. In doing so, we would display a typically adult strength that Sigmund Freud described as humor – and which he noted children do not need in order to feel happy in life. The exhibition at the Austrian Cultural Forum in Budapest (September 10th until November 6th, 2021) gathers evidence of this humor in art; supplemented by finds from cabinets of curiosities and scientific collections.
The exhibition is curated by Professor Robert Pfaller and a symposium is in preparation.
Further information on the exhibition: https://www.bmeia.gv.at/kf-budapest/veranstaltungen/detail/article/posterwachsen/
