La Petite Mort

25 Jan-28 Jan 2024

PV 25 Jan 2024, 6-8pm

Overview

La Petite Mort is a collective exhibition featuring a group of early-career artists working across various mediums. Its aim is to explore the fragile nature of truth and transient essence of reality in the digital age, where a flood of information has distorted the semiotic significance of these concepts.

The exhibition addresses questions such as: How do we conceptualise a future fraught with crisis brought on by the contemporary urge to excess as a basis for existence? How do we relate to the promises of traditional progress narratives? The participating artists delve into the impact of this on our sense of self and our perception of the world around us.

The exhibition’s title La Petite Mort alludes to the sensation of post-orgasm as being similar to death. It uses the French saying “la petite mort” — a loss of one's sense of self at the moment of orgasm — to explore personal and cultural experiences of morbid ecstasy in the disillusionment of hegemonic cultural logics. The sexual metaphor serves to illuminate the fleeting nature of intense pleasure and release that accompanies sexual climax. It is a momentary cessation of existence similar to the feelings of vertigo experienced by the digital reality.

This exhibition will be hosted by APT Gallery, Deptford in January 2024 for one week. It will involve public programs including an evening of performances for the opening, an artists’ round table and a public workshop during the weekend. It aims to create international connections among artists working in Britain and in Germany by building a bridge between students of Goldsmiths University of London and Düsseldorf Art Academy.

With Camile Batteux, Nicola Bergamaschi, Danni Chen, Natalia Drabik, Ella Fleck, Andrea Marcellier, Maomi Meindl, Emma Papworth, Moritz Riesenbeck, Lyllie Rouvière, Haiqing Wang and Julian Westermann. Curated by Faustine Pallez-Beauchamp.