Happily Ever After

Our feeling indicate that something is important to us – but how do we actually know what is important when dreams and ideals have become saleable goods? Happily Ever After brings together artists who explore convergences between the psyche and the social in a time when private, public, emotional, and economic spheres are increasingly entangled.

The exhibition investigates the complex interplay between feelings and capital in a social system mobilized by effectivization and optimization. Through a range of forms of artistic expression, topics such as mindfulness, welfare state profits, the tech industry, and social media are addressed. Together, the works point to how our mode of experiencing and expressing feelings is in flux and how these changes in turn affect how we see ourselves, each other, and society. What happens when our feelings and the notion of happiness are exploited for profit and control. What are the social consequences and how can we resist?

Curators: Julia Björnberg & Anna Johansson

Participating artists

Muhammad Ali, Anita Christoffersson, Markus Copper, Jeanne Dunning, Stina Ebers, Elis Eriksson, Helena Fernández-Cavada, Ester Fleckner, Jenny Grönvall, Ramón Guillén-Balmes, Sive Hamilton Helle, Leif Holmstrand, Adelita Husni-Bey, E.B. Itso, Jesper Just, Joachim Koester, Jukka Korkeila, Ellinor Lager, Gloria López Cleries, Truls Melin, Britt-Ingrid Persson, Iris Smeds, Superflex, Hannah Toticki and Ulla Wiggen