Cool School

Guided tours through the exhibition Future of Melancholia

Admission for the exhibition is free, Attendance: 1 € per person
duration: ca. 45 min
group size: up to 20 people
Also available in German

Registration: cf@​halle-​fuer-​kunst.​at; 0316 740084

1) Surrealism: surreal worlds, dreams and the unreal

Surrealism was a movement of artists, writers and filmmakers from the 1920s onwards who took particular interest in dreams. Surrealism means something like ​“beyond realism”, or ​“more than reality.” But what exactly is meant by expanding reality in an artistic sense and what did the Surrealists want to achieve with this? On this tour, we’ll delve into the fantastical visual worlds and dreamlike unrealities of Surrealism, focusing on the unique perspective of Serbian artists, while exploring what truly defines the surreal. We’ll also talk in small groups about dreams and how they always represent an extension of our perceived reality.


2) Melancholy & feelings

On this tour, we will focus on the feeling of melancholy. What kind of emotion is it exactly? Together, we will discuss personal feelings such as doubt, melancholy and sadness — feelings that everyone is familiar with, and explore, how melancholy relates to the world’s current situation, characterized by crises and authoritarian leaders. Against the backdrop of the Future of Melancholiaexhibition, which views melancholy and negative feelings as a productive force, we’ll approach the visual worlds of the artworks together in order to get to the bottom of melancholy and its power. Melancholy’s relationship to Surrealism will be considered here too. Following the joint tour, small groups will discuss personally selected works from the exhibition, exploring how melancholy is depicted and which associations are provoked. Afterwards, the results will be shared in short presentations.


3) Surrealism and politics

The Belgrade Surrealist group of the 1920s, which forms the starting point of the exhibition, was not only anti-fascist, but also partly socialist. Similarly, many of the Neo-Surrealist generation of the 1950s to 1980s were also often critical of the regimes they lived under, and, the surreal visual worlds of the contemporary artworks shown here not only express the emotional landscapes of Generation Y and Generation Z, but are also decidedly political, as they critique current political and economic conditions. This tour will focus on the political aspects of the exhibition and the practices of the Serbian Surrealists and modern and contemporary artists shown here. This will be followed by a discussion in small groups about how individual works act as critiques of economic and political issues. The groups will then give short presentations, and we will talk together about the relationship between art and politics.