Maja Hodošček (DAI, 2013): IMAGINE, a solo exhibition. The widely adopted do-what-you-love mantra, especially characteristic of creative and intellectual work, on the one hand brushes away repetitive tasks that are done out of need and dehumanizes workers who do this type of work (which is a large majority of the world's population). On the other, it conceals the exploitation and the equally precarious position that stands behind the doing-what-you-love principle for those who are in a situation to swallow the bait.
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A large number of media and marketing messages reach our eyes and minds daily, persuading us that our fate is in our hands, that there is no alternative to the existing system and state of affairs and that everything is in our heads. Instead of dealing with the structural and systemic causes of stress and mental illness, an entire industry has been formed that tells us that success and happiness are a state of mind and that the key to achieving them lies within ourselves. Mystification and spectacularization of love, as well as misuse of different ranges of emotions, occupy a special place in the happiness industry, as evidenced by numerous blockbusters, music hits and even short suggestive messages printed on the mass-produced wardrobe of the world's leading brands.
The widely adopted do-what-you-love mantra, especially characteristic of creative and intellectual work, on the one hand brushes away repetitive tasks that are done out of need and dehumanizes workers who do this type of work (which is a large majority of the world's population). On the other, it conceals the exploitation and the equally precarious position that stands behind the doing-what-you-love principle for those who are in a situation to swallow the bait. The pressure to find and keep a job is increasing, the list of tasks to be carried out by one person for as little pay as possible gets longer by the day, and along with the increase in competitiveness grows stronger the demand to focus on ourselves, our skills, abilities, capacities, and play roles assigned to us in the job market. The same goes for love.
In Maja Hodošček’s exhibition, the IMAGINE concept has a double function: on the one hand, it represents a demand to be as creative and innovative as possible in order to offer as much as we can to the labor market, while on the other, it is an invitation to imagine a different system, to oppose the generally accepted non-alternative and to form an affirmative view into the future. (Mirjana Dragosavljevič)
More: http://domomladine.org/izlozbe/izlozba-imagine-maje-hodoscek/