Excess and Refusal

“Excess and Refusal” is centred around the notions of excess and refusal as artistic and lived practices. The two are, in fact, a contingent pair – often excess is achieved through refusal and refusal is enforced because of excess.

Our understanding of excess relies on the idea of existence of limits to what is acceptable – politically, culturally, in our private and public lives etc. Refusal or inability to abide by these limits – to step outside the acceptable – produces what is perceived as excess, often with connotations of immorality. Declaring someone or something excessive is also a way to refuse access, means and power. However, a conscious refusal can emerge as a powerful strategy for reclaiming one’s agency. In the context of this exhibition, excess is understood not as commodified luxury but as opulence against constrictions.

The show looks refusal and excess in various contexts and themes: gender and activism, queerness, abjection and grotesque, health and illness, performativity, community building and experimentation. This is a quest for an imaginative opulence.

Listen to the audio guide for the exhibition HERE.