Group exhibition with works by Anna Solal, Philipp Timischl, Johanna Ulfsak, Agnes Scherer, Joshua Citarella, Robertas Narkus at Curated by Alexander Burenkov
Temnikova & Kasela Gallery in Tallinn.
‘Don’t Take It Too Seriously’
Artists: Anna Solal, Philipp Timischl, Johanna Ulfsak, Agnes Scherer, Joshua Citarella, Robertas Narkus
1 February - 3 May, 2025
Curated by Alexander Burenkov
Temnikova & Kasela Gallery, Tallinn
Is there any value in an exhibition so self-ironic that it does not attempt to convey anything to the viewer? Or is it merely pretending to be ironic—consistent with the current zeitgeist—while masking its direct statements and avoiding any manifestos?
In his 1990 book E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction, David Foster Wallace noted that popular culture (primarily television, of course) had begun to shun seriousness. Instead, it was more willing to flirt with the absurd, repetition, self-quotation, and other postmodernist devices. Wallace provided examples: a sitcom in which the characters are aware they are in a sitcom; a commercial where a satisfied customer admits he is merely an actor paid to appear in the film. He argued that in a self-ironic culture, any display of sincerity and humanity can either be ridiculed or viewed with cynicism. Wallace feared that post-irony was gradually erasing the boundaries between humanism and cruelty, humanity and indifference, values and cruel jokes. Did he anticipate that in the quarter-century since, post-irony would become nearly the only way to cope with our surrounding reality? How did we transition from being ironic to operating with statements that only pretend to be ironic?
Post-irony, and the constant balancing between humor and sincerity, is symptomatic of depoliticization and offers an easy escape for those who have lost their bearings and ceased to take moral, political, or civic positions regarding the world around them. This inability to be serious has political consequences: it exacerbates alienation among people, polarization, and political apathy. Post-irony has emerged as a response to confusion in the face of rapid changes and information overload. According to the Italian philosopher Franco Berardi, this overabundance of information is causing a kind of depression within world culture. Irony acts as a response, transforming our fears, anxieties, frustrations, anger, disappointments, and apathy into unreal objects, memes, and jokes. The only issue is that if a phenomenon is ridiculed postironically, it does not cease to exist or impact real life.
Obligatory irony is the term Mehdi Belhaj Kacem uses to define the modern situation in his work “On Irony”: "Once upon a time, from the time of Socrates to Kierkegaard, irony was an elitist and aristocratic art. But now, for more than three decades, irony has become, ahem, a raison d’état—a purely political reason for action." What does this mean? The generational evidence that has paralyzed us includes derision, a depreciative perspective, and the mockery of others as well as oneself, coupled with the media-centered omnipresence of the comic and of sarcasm, imitation, and satire. Irony has democratized itself. Nobody seems able to take anything seriously anymore. This plebeianization of irony has become, without a doubt, not just a self-defensive strategy for survival amid the controversies of reality, but one of the principal symptoms of the “spirit of nihilism” in our zeitgeist. Irony takes center stage as a weapon against the over-professionalization of every aspect of our lives and the strict regulations governing our actions online under platform capitalism. It drains much joy from life and occupation, and sometimes you may even forget why you are doing what you’re doing. Irony appears to bring meaning back to life; when there is no sense in anything, irony can infuse it with vitality. A feature of contemporary subjectivity, marked by irony, constantly showcases a spirit of omni-derision—which suggests that one can never be fooled by anything. Ironically, we may now be fooled by everything.
Avalanches of fake news, friends turned into Flat Earthers or ultra-rightists, internet folklore, pseudoscience, memes, conspiracy theories, radical internet subcultures, and new approaches to conducting online research create a schizophrenic, doomsday informational buzz that marks a massive aesthetic rupture in post-digital art production. This buzz gives rise to new forms of hyper-ironic, eclectic storytelling inspired by the absurdities of reality. Drawing from the paranoid modalities of contemporary post-irony in social life and the debris of the cozy web, the artworks on display demonstrate how to live, create, and conspire on an increasingly adversarial and fractured internet and in a broader world that requires new forms of metaironic narratives—narratives that allow us to convince ourselves that we still control and understand the complex reality around us.
The works in the exhibition are not silent objects; they actively engage in a cacophony of various post-ironic voices, commenting on each other and adding additional layers of irony to the dialogue. Canvases, screens, windows, and walls in Austrian artist Philipp Timischl's installations are aligned, collaged, and automated to generate outputs of distinct subjectivities, giving voice to narratives that maneuver between documentation and fiction, often through intimacy, self-reference, and humor. These elements sharply render the mediated nature of contemporary existence and the unspeakable boundaries of our collective public sphere. His paintings, with built-in screens bearing titles like "I Love My Brain and Thinking" and "Far From Intellectual," require no effort on the part of the viewer; they behave like characters worn out by life, commenting on the absurdity of contemporary existence.
Anna Solal combines the detritus of civilization—whether smartphone circuit boards, plastic toys, or cosmetics—with a vivid pictorial language infused with the anxieties and tensions of adolescence, reflecting the violence of modern technology on humanity. In a recent series of “selfie” portraits, the artist replaces faces with masks that are not merely metaphorical images of Instagram filters smoothing out our skin, but gestures of violence that unearth our hidden monstrosity.
By weaving functional everyday objects—nets, screens, scarves, carpets—Estonian artist and textile designer Johanna Ulfsak interprets the experience of human life as part of a larger social fabric that is intertwined and inseparably interlinked. Driven by her interest in the contradictions between intimate craftsmanship and industrial production methods, Ulfsak's latest works, inspired by CAPTCHA images and iconic retro screensavers and desktop wallpapers, explore meditative states and nostalgic memories filled with a light irony common to entire generations.
Lithuanian artist Robertas Narkus often draws inspiration from the world of business and startups, paradoxically merging the spirit of optimism and entrepreneurial drive with the bitterness of disappointment. This creates a tragicomic and ambiguous irony stemming from the recognition of defeat in the face of the all-pervasive neoliberal system. His ongoing series of bricolage installations, “The Board,” features anthropomorphic characters crafted from trash and scraps, representing a new and yet unnamed form of life. These characters gather at a meeting of a secret organization, committee, or council, deciding the fate of humanity via an endless video conference. The cast of characters from German artist Agnes Scherer’s "My refuge, my treasure, without body, without measure" that populate her architectural paintings and plaster sculptures are all conceived as containers, carriers of some exchangeable value. Formed by the diagrammatic vernacular of comic illustration and folk sculpture, they point to the sombre horizon: the final day of judgement, or even redemption, inevitably imposed from the outside; the threshold between one world and the next. Finally, American artist and internet culture writer Joshua Citarella explores internet communities and how they facilitate the development of identities. Through his series of flags, he addresses E-deology, a critical internet slang term for hyper-specific ideological categories, which serve as a gamified form of identity play and personal branding in the chaotic landscape of online politics. The artist has created original flags for highly specific ideologies encountered online, providing these mostly internet-based communities with a sense of real-world validation. Notable movements include Libertarian Georgist Hoppeanism, Anarcho-Mutualist Distributism, and Queer Anarcho-Primitivism.
Was this text self-ironic enough to keep you reading to the end without getting distracted by another tab in your browser? Will you visit the exhibition and feel the rapid streams of post-irony rolling over you wave after wave, trying not to drown in it? Just don't take it too seriously.
Text: Alexander Burenkov
Exhibition is supported by The Cultural Endowment of Estonia and Punch Drinks.
Anna Solal (b. 1988) is an artist based in Paris. Solal graduated from the École nationale supérieure des arts visuels de La Cambre in Brussels. Her work has been featured in prominent exhibitions across Europe and the U.S., including solo presentations at Palais de Tokyo in Paris and CAC Passerelle in Brest. She has also participated in group shows at Musée des Abattoirs in Toulouse and Interstate Projects in New York. Her practice reflects a commitment to experimental materiality, developed through residencies and collaborations in Paris and beyond.
Philipp Timischl (b. 1989) is an artist living and working in Paris. Timischl studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. His work has been widely exhibited, including solo shows at Heidelberger Kunstverein, Secession in Vienna, and Fondation Fiminco in Paris. Timischl has also participated in significant group exhibitions, such as the Biennale of Lyon, Kunsthalle Bern, and MAK in Vienna. His critical engagement with personal and social narratives continues to evolve through curatorial partnerships and international exhibition platforms.
Johanna Ulfsak (b. 1987) is a textile artist and designer based in Tallinn, Estonia. She earned her degree in Textile Art and Design from the Estonian Academy of Arts, where she now teaches as a guest lecturer. Ulfsak's work has been showcased in solo exhibitions at Draakon Gallery in Tallinn and Margot Samel Gallery in New York, as well as in group shows at the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design. She has received numerous accolades for her contributions to contemporary textile art.
Agnes Scherer (b. 1985) is an artist based in Salzburg and Berlin. Scherer holds a degree in Fine Arts from Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Her work has been presented in solo exhibitions at Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, Sadie Coles HQ in London, and ChertLüdde in Berlin. Scherer’s narrative installations and performances have also been staged internationally, including at festivals and biennials. Her art is held in collections such as FRAC Champagne-Ardenne and Moderna Museet in Stockholm.
Joshua Citarella (b. 1987) is an artist, writer, and researcher based in New York City. He studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York, where he earned a BFA in Photography. Citarella's work has been exhibited at institutions such as the Stedelijk Museum in the Netherlands and the Hood Museum of Art in the U.S. His publications, which explore online subcultures and speculative futures, are part of academic collections at Yale, Harvard, and RISD. In addition to his artistic practice, he teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design and develops independent research projects.
Robertas Narkus (b. 1983) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Vilnius. He earned his degree from the Vilnius Academy of Arts and has participated in advanced programs at de Appel arts center in Amsterdam. Narkus represented Lithuania at the 59th Venice Biennale with his project Gut Feeling. His work has been exhibited at major institutions, including the Contemporary Art Centre Vilnius, XII Baltic Triennial, and Whitechapel Gallery in London. Narkus is also the founder of artist-run initiatives such as Autarkia and the Institute for Pataphysics, which foster experimental collaborations in the arts.
