The artists in the 2022 edition of Handels x Mejan challenge our experience of the present using very different approaches and processes. Nada Ali’s work explores the mutability of our collective memory, how we construct and re-construct history, and how we use our reading of history to define our present. In contrast, Tim Hoibjerg focuses on multiple imagined futures, with an ambivalence towards our perception of technological development which appear to hold a potential of simultaneous salvation and destruction. Cristian Quinteros Soto examines how changes to a physical space change the discourse existing within it. It tests the connections between the soul of a space – its Genius Loci – to dominant structures of knowledge and thought in society. Finally, Georg Nordmark’s work present a duality between entertainment and manipulation, highlighting the gamification of contemporary society while questioning its consequences. Combined, the work of the artists raises complex questions about how our perception affect our interaction with society – questions especially urgent to our time, and particularly interesting to consider in a context such as the SSE.
David Magnusson, SSE student and member of Art Division
