You say I have unlimited potential. I disagree.

group exhibition at Zilberman Galley Berlin

curated by Lusin Reinsch

19.07 - 24.08.2024

press release - https://www.zilbermangallery.com/yfd-berlin-2024-eng-e376.html

The exhibition is dedicated to the subject of potentiality. Derived from the Latin potentia(translated: ability, strength), the word describes the quality of an object or a person to have potential. Potentials are possibilities. Often existing yet unutilised possibilities or strengths awaiting realization. Within the realm of art, potentiality initially manifests itself as a driving force, a dynamic energy that drives creative exploration and innovation: In their search for new talent, gallerists and collectors weigh up the potential of emerging artists. New, unusual places and spaces for art are discovered, created and expanded. Artists explore the potentials of different materials and test the boundaries of traditional art genres. But they don’t stop there; they also work with what is perceived as having no potential – the unusable, the forgotten, the overlooked – and constantly renegotiate what that means. Take, for example, Agnes Denes’ Wheatfield – A Confrontation, for which the artist transformed a former landfill into a wheat field in the center of Manhattan, New York City. But all that glitters is not gold. At a time when concepts of potentiality are being exposed as neoliberal mental constructs of the privileged, and the dark side of self-optimization is becoming more apparent through social media, the idea of unlimited potential seems to have lost its shine. Given these ambivalent approaches, we ask: How does potential take shape when we think of the new, the different, or the unfamiliar? What potential lies in overlapping materials, media or alternative approaches that defy clear categorization? What potential do private spaces (such as galleries) have in comparison to public institutions? The title You say I have unlimited potential. I disagreequestions, in a gesture of resistance, the presumed premise of an allegedly limitless potential that extends to different areas of life, such as work or health. 

- Thematic brief and text by Lusin Reinsch -