Cancelled

So, I lived to be cancelled at an exhibition called "Cancelled". If I were looking for a better confirmation that art still knows how to hit the nerve of the system – I would have a hard time finding it. Sometimes life makes more sense than the art itself, and that's just when it decides to turn you into its own metaphor. The exhibition was inviting, and when I got acquainted with the concept, I decided to show the work I did almost 10 years ago... A period when, among other corruption scandals, we found out that we were missing several thousand exhibits from the National Museum... And so work is created, a plucked double-headed eagle, without a crown, without feathers, without shine. It was not an eagle that symbolized a particular state, but one that symbolized any government that laid bare what it was supposed to preserve. There is nothing explicitly political about it – unless someone recognizes themselves in the mirror. That eagle is timeless. It would have been relevant 50 years ago, 20 years ago, and it will be in 50 years, because systemic greed and institutional corruption have no shelf life. I'm not surprised, but I have to admit that the irony is perfect. An invitation to an exhibition that problematizes censorship – ends with self-censorship doing its part. If nothing else, at least I can say that with my work and experience, I've completely hit the mark. Art that cannot be shown often says more about society than the one that hangs on the wall. And if freedom of expression exists only as long as you don't use it, then it's not freedom – it's decoration. And we live, they say, in our free time. In the age of social media, democratic procedures, grants for freedom of expression, and endless conversations about inclusion, and suddenly it is discovered that the limit of freedom of expression is the width of the red line of protocol decoration. Because our society still loves obedience and good decoration. Art does not change the world, but reflects it. And the mirror, if it's not for selfies, is usually not comfortable for anyone. My work, it seems, once again served as a mirror – and like any honest reflection, it ended up "cancelled".