Now, Still We Gather : Curated by Behrang Samadzadegan
The exhibition emphasizes art’s capacity to sustain dialogue across imposed divisions and affirms that gathering however partial remains meaningful. Hope is not seen as a distant or transcendent ideal but as an immediate condition, arising through proximity, difference, and the ongoing act of assembling.
This exhibition does not originate from a stable curatorial thesis but from a state of interruption. Shaped by material and logistical constraints, it draws on an existing archive rather than a deliberately constructed thematic selection. In this sense, it follows what Walter Benjamin might describe as a constellational logic: a gathering of diverse fragments whose significance arises not from prior unity but from their contingent juxtaposition in the present.
Bringing together artists from the region, the exhibition resists singular narratives, stylistic coherence, and ideological framing. The works on display do not converge around a shared aesthetic or discourse; instead, they form a field of irreducible difference. The focus is not on synthesis but on co-presence a provisional commons in which distinct histories, identities, and visual languages remain legible in their dissonance. The connection among these works is not similarity but proximity.
The title, Now, Still We Gather, draws inspiration from Higher Power by Chris Levine, presented at the 61st Venice Biennale. Described by the artist as “a beacon of hope and unity,” the work calls for “making light, not war,” and reflects a belief that “with faith over fear, looking towards light, we live in hope knowing it all ends well.” These words resonate with the spirit of this exhibition, which aims to highlight quieter, more dispersed forms of connection through the shared language of art.
Yet this act of illumination occurs within constraints. The reliance on archival works, the absence of certain voices, and the limitations on mobility and participation all point to a fractured cultural landscape. Here, absence becomes an active force: what cannot be shown or gathered forces what remains visible, intensifying the urgency of display.
Within this context, the exhibition does not seek to resolve contradictions or tell a redemptive story of unity. Instead, it positions art as a space of relation, where coexistence is constantly negotiated. If Levine’s work functions as a singular, vertical projection, this exhibition unfolds horizontally as a network of dispersed and contingent relations. It does not present a unified message but creates a space where encounter remains possible: fragile, provisional, and unresolved. Unity is not assumed but constructed; not declared but practiced.
What emerges is neither resolution nor escape but persistence. The exhibition emphasizes art’s capacity to sustain dialogue across imposed divisions and affirms that gathering however partial remains meaningful. Hope is not seen as a distant or transcendent ideal but as an immediate condition, arising through proximity, difference, and the ongoing act of assembling.
