THE HERITAGE OF COLLECTIVES: ADAPTATION AND TRANSFORMATION

The cycle of exhibitions for the year 2024 in the Olga space with the working title "THE HERITAGE OF COLLECTIVES: ADAPTATION AND TRANSFORMATION" is a loose continuation of the cycles of the previous years (2022 - DAUGHTERS SONS MOTHERS FATHERS; 2023 - PARENT), and extends it to include another dimension of social ties, relationships and forms, where cooperation and collectivity are seen as necessary aspects of sustainability and survival.

Today, as a society, we face various crises (financial, environmental, intergenerational, etc.). We face existential insecurity. The consumer capitalist society, fundamentally based on individualism, is exhausted, as are natural resources and human relations. Humanity is built in relationships and solidarity. In cooperation, perspectives are offered, skills and knowledge are expanded. There is mutual enrichment. Emotional and practical support between members increases the likelihood of achieving common goals and strengthens resilience in dealing with challenges and crises. Bringing together members of creative collectives (both existing and defunct) is an essential element of implementing a gallery project. Five thematic exhibitions will offer visitors the results of their work and confront them with their own belonging to the group. With the exhibition cycle we want to remind the necessity of interpersonal cooperation.

The difficulties with the sustainability of collectives and the reasons for their disintegration in the past invite reflection on their benefits in the present. Even though various groups or entire societies will sooner or later disappear, as impermanence is a natural process, attitudes and ideas, inspirations and experiences persist and evolve with each passing. One could say that the art scene today is a force field of tension between community and competition. Contemporary artistic practice then inevitably balances between the imperative of creativity and the dictates of care, between the demand for performance and the demand for sustainability. In such a situation, collectives challenge individual expectations as well as established institutional practices. It invites a rethinking of key notions of authorship or work. In doing so, they problematize the hierarchies of the art world and the set mechanisms for evaluating their outputs. In various cases, they can embody the joy of belonging as well as tactical or even pragmatic alliances.

In recent years, art collectives have been growing in number and are also increasingly talked about. A certain culmination of this trend could be considered the closely watched Documenta 15 show in 2022, curated by a collective that invited other collectives, some of which invited other collectives. If the defining feature of any trend is its ephemerality, the question arises as to what of the artistic collectivity transcends the trend. At the same time, it has been shown repeatedly that even art collectives are running out of breath for one reason or another. The former enthusiasm is replaced by fatigue, the names of groups are replaced by the names of individuals, the fascination is gone.

With some exaggeration, we could refer to the statement of sociologist Eva Illouz, according to whom we have many stories about how romantic relationships begin, but few about how they end. Together with former (and current) group members, we would like to ask what stories can be told about collectives. How and why do collectives end and what is left behind? Is any generalization or even lesson possible? The Olga Gallery programme will not only be dedicated to former collectives, but perhaps also to the next ones.