Everything Is So Alive!

“Everything Is So Alive!” offers a hopeful exploration of the possibilities for cohabiting the ruins of a world moving into collapse. Rather than viewing collapse as mere destruction, the exhibition embraces it as a generative force. It considers collapse as a moment of new beginnings, where brokenness is understood as a condition to embody and negotiate, rejecting the neoliberal logic of repair.

After decades of queer theory evolving around world-making, Jack Halberstam describes his concept of unworlding as “not antiutopian. It is a project that understands that utopia is delayed until we unmake the world that we are currently living in.” This concept explores the idea of dismantling the dominant frameworks and systems that shape our understanding of our existence. It emphasises the importance of breaking free from oppressive structures—social, political, and environmental—developed out of Western thought. Unworlding suggests an undoing of the existing world order, creating space for new possibilities that emerge from the collapse of these systems.

Through strategies of storytelling, preservation, and engagement with Indigenous knowledge systems, “Everything Is So Alive!” offers perspectives on navigating the state of brokenness. Beauty can be found in chaotic city soundscapes, kinship can be found in wastelands, and connections — both human and non-human — can be found in light and shadow, in forests and in the depths of the ocean. The new and existing artistic works depict forms of past, present and future life that seem like fiction: personal visions of hell and heaven; the appearance of a whale as a blessing; a motorised character traversing the galleries; caffeinated and intoxicating stimulants for managing contemporary life; and a frozen performance. Where do we go from here?

The exhibition insists on movement in circles and in all directions. The planets will continue moving, with or without us. And everything that moves is alive. In stillness, we sat on the Bergen mountaintop, and she said, “Everything Is So Alive!” After all, there are futures that await us.

Curated by Nora-Swantje Almes and Silja Leifsdottir.

1 Jack Halberstam (2024) Unworlding, Journal of Architectural Education, 78:2, 272-276

Nikita Gale is an artist living and working in Los Angeles, California. The artist’s work has recently been exhibited in the 2024 Whitney Biennial, New York; Chisenhale, London (2022); LAXART, Los Angeles (2022); Swiss Institute, New York (2022); California African American Museum, Los Angeles (2022); Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin (2021); MoMA PS1, New York (2020) and Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2018).

Tianzhuo Chen lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Recent solo exhibitions include Song Art Museum, Beijing (2024); Tank Shanghai (2023); Dark Mofo, Tasmania (2021); Kyoto Experiment (2021); M Woods Museum, Beijing (2019); Kunsthalle Winterthur (2017) and Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2015).

Tracey Rose lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa. Rose has exhibited widely internationally, most notably, Performa 17, New York (2017); Documenta 14, Athens, Greece and Kassel (2017); 58th Venice Biennale (2016); 11th Biennale de Lyon (2011); Tate Liverpool (2010); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2008); The Hayward Gallery, London (2005) and Centre Pompidou, Paris (2005).

Dora Budor is a New York-based artist and writer. Budor’s recent solo exhibitions include Nottingham Contemporary (2024); Galerie Molitor, Berlin (2023); Kunsthaus Bregenz (2022); GAMeC Bergamo (2022); Progetto, Lecce (2021) and Kunsthalle Basel (2019). Her work has been featured in international group exhibitions including the Whitney Biennial, New York (2024) and the Venice Biennale (2022).

Ventura Profana is a missionary pastor, singer, writer, composer and visual artist living and working in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In recent years she has carried out actions and exhibited at Kunstverein Wien, Vienna (2024); the 60th Venice Biennale (2024); 35th São Paulo Biennale (2023); Serpentine, London (2023); Frestas Art Triennial, Sorocaba (2021); and Tenthaus, Oslo (2021).

Tejal Shah is an artist living and working in India. Shah’s work has been exhibited internationally at venues including the 60th Venice Biennale (2024); 35th São Paulo Biennale (2023); 4th Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2018); Documenta 13, Kassel (2012); Tate Modern, London (2011); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2010) and the Rotterdam International Film Festival (2007).