Silenced Ideas: art as a critical voice

The Valvi Foundation inaugurates the collective exhibition Idees Silenciades, a show that brings together the works of four artists: Michelle Wilson , Fiona Morrison , Quim Massana and Mike Duff . This exhibition invites us to reflect on today's consumerist society, where the speed of consumption eclipses reflection and the search for individual benefit prevails over collective well-being.

Fiona Morrison

The works presented explore the contemporary poly crisis, focusing on what is hidden behind a society that often prefers to ignore the real costs of progress in exchange for comfort.

Michelle Wilson (Johannesburg, 1973) exhibits four installations conceived with reused materials, characterized by a careful aesthetic and a poignant message. Her work, with a clear critical and activist vocation, denounces the oppression exercised by the capitalist system and highlights the inequalities generated by this economic model. Fiona Morrison (Encamp, 1970) presents three installations interconnected by a red line, a symbol of the depletion of natural resources. One of them is focused on water and has thirteen stoneware jugs arranged in a way that invites the visitor to actively participate, assuming a role of responsibility in the conservation and management of this essential resource.

Quim Massana (Lleida, 1966), for his part, exhibits a series of photographs of silenced walls, part of a project that he began in 2001 and that continues to evolve constantly. This set of images acts as a common thread of the exhibition, serving as the starting point for a visual dialogue in which silent ideas progressively find their voice. Finally, Mike Duff (Ktunaxa, 1979) presents a striking proposal based on the manipulation of four solar panels that failed prematurely before reaching the end of their useful life. These pieces, transformed into works of great symbolic charge, are both an expression of his personal discomfort in the face of the global systemic crisis and a denunciation of the difficulties in moving towards a model of a truly sustainable and just society.

Mike Duff

Silenced Ideas can be visited at the Valvi Foundation until April 26. This exhibition is an opportunity to learn about the perspectives of four artists who, from different corners of the world, invite us to rethink our role in today's society and the impacts of our actions in the future.

Michelle Wilson