In making the ensemble, there is first of all a very simple intention: that of gathering works and ideas. In bringing together artworks by artists who themselves think about what together means, a sort of mise en abyme is created. When we reflect on what it means to be together, we think, hopelessly, of beautiful utopias – those that still stimulate our desire to unite and cooperate. But there is also their more obscure counterpart, with all its complexities, failures, and warnings. At a time when many societies are divided and when values and customs are monitored by any number of authoritative voices, art appears as a way to reflect on, question, and imagine different ways of living together. Between all white and all black, artists position themselves in a middle ground where they don’t let their awareness of the world prevent them from dreaming.
Ensemble introduces the larger objective of VU’s 2016-17 programming, which is to reflect on art as an occasion for gathering together, and also for images and ideas to be connected and to confront one another. In this way are assembled photographic practices that, whether directly or obliquely, approach and observe the realities, dreams, utopias, and dystopias of being together.
