Utopia Today x REX Box

29.06.–30.8.2023, daily, 16:30 to 24:00

Kassenhaus des Kino REX Bern, Schwanengasse 9, 3011 Bern.

Artists: Edlyn Castellanos, Stephanie Francis-Shanahan, Maria Marshall, Johanna Reich.

Curated by Chiara Giardi, Zurich and San Marino.

"Dios te salve"

A utopia is an imaginary place or state in which everything is perfect’ (Oxford Dictionary). It is so perfect that it could exist nowhere and so thought-through that nobody would want to live there – I would add. Very much unlike our beautifully messy world, utopias are steady-state, closed societies. They are often totalitarian projects written by masterminds, not told by their inhabitants. So beware, the fine line between a utopia and a dystopia might just lie in a change of perspective: from the godly to an earthly one, from the future plan to the here and now. No need to panic and give up hopes for “better” societies though! The present can be changed, often starting with a pinch of humour. The artists I selected for this chapter play with Christian symbols, regrounding them in this world. The videos appropriate Saint Patrons and the Virgin Mary as protective, celebratory figures by creating humorously campy collages of news, portraits and glitter. These creative takeovers are symbols of resilience, hope and aspirations visibly in conflict with the often conservative and repressive belief system they belong(ed) to. The Holy Mary, the main projection screen for the patriarchal value of virginity and the stigmatisation of sexuality, will pray for all of us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.