"After the Mediterranean" curated by Oriol Fontdevila at Hauser & Wirth Menorca

After the Mediterranean is an exhibition curated by the curator, writer and art researcher Oriol Fontdevila and which can be visited at Hauser & Wirth Menorca from April 2 to October 29. The exhibition brings together seven artists whose work addresses the ecological and social challenges that affect this environment: Laia Estruch, Erola Arcalís, Omar Mismar, Abi Shehu, Adjoa Armah, Sara Ouhaddou and the Huniti Goldox collective, with Areej Huniti and Eliza Goldox.

The exhibition involves a group of artists who mostly come from, work or have a relationship with territories bordering the Mediterranean. This includes, among others, Spanish, Albanian, French-Moroccan and Lebanese artists. They present existing and new works, the latter created through a residency program that takes place in Menorca during the winter in collaboration with local artisans such as potters and weavers. Alongside the exhibition, a public program will be developed in collaboration with educational institutions, organizations and the island community, as well as the general public.

After the Mediterranean conjures up different types of future imaginaries that deal with ideas around the ecological and humanitarian crises that undermine this sea. The exhibition questions, on the one hand, the unitary imaginary that has historically been articulated – and that persists – of the Mediterranean as a soft and sunny sea, of an idyllic geography that would have favored equally placid ways of life, of cultures that would have had the capacity to coexist, trade and move in harmony – according to the tradition of critical thinking that begins with the work of the historian Fernand Braudel.

"Through their practice, the artists in the exhibition confront this legacy with the problems arising from the current climate emergency, post-colonialism and the Arab Spring, from waves of migration and policies that prevent mobility between shores of this sea", says Oriol Fontdevila.

Also, After the Mediterranean introduces new thoughts and narratives that testify to the human capacity to face the challenges of the region.