The traveling exhibition FUTURE PERFECT has been showcasing contemporary visual art from Germany worldwide for years, prompting audiences to explore new questions about the future and searching for answers together. Its title, which refers to the English verb tense – Future Perfect, denoting an action that will be completed in the future before some other action, similar to the Futur II in German or Serbian, sets the stage for the exhibition held at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Gallery – Legacy of Milica Zorić and Rodoljub Čolaković.
This exhibition presents works by sixteen artists who delve into visions of the future and speculate about the course of history. From their perspective, the initial question arises: can we, through assumptions and conjectures, understand the complex temporal construction of the completed future? Moreover, will the future align with our imaginations? In what ways can we develop our visions, contemplate, and anticipate the future trajectory of events, and is it possible, in this regard, to depart from conventional thinking patterns? What are the potentials of the future as a critical and emancipatory concept today? Due to the acceleration facilitated by digital and mobile technology, even the near future has become almost unpredictable, significantly complicating the reconciliation of various predictions about it. The exhibited works bring forth and shape spaces for imagination and action, characterized by a strong formal language, addressing and problematizing fundamental social issues through artistic reflections. By bringing together films, photographs, sculptures, objects, paintings, and collages, the exhibition introduces visitors to various reflections on socio-political, economic, and cultural historical and contemporary phenomena in European and global contexts, lessons from the past, institutional policies, possibilities for individual and collective activation of public space, micronarratives, and monumental symbols.
The FUTURE PERFECT exhibition was curated by Angelika Stepken and Philipp Ziegler, presenting the perspectives of artists who originate from Germany or have been living and working in Germany for an extended period, and who now enjoy thriving international professional careers. Besides its thematic framework, the exhibition also provides insights into contemporary visual art from Germany through the works of Nairy Baghramian, the duo DAS INSTITUT (Kerstin Brätsch and Adele Röder), Mariana Castillo Deball, Dani Gal, Cyprien Gaillard, Annette Kelm, Jutta Koether, Armin Linke, Antje Majewski, Henrik Olesen, Yorgos Sapountzis, Nora Schulty, Nasan Tur, Danh Vo, and Clemens von Wedemeyer.
The FUTURE PERFECT – Contemporary Art from Germany exhibition is a collaboration between the ifa – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (Institute for Foreign Relations) in Stuttgart, the Goethe-Institut Belgrade, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade.
Exhibition curator: Angelika Stepken
Exhibition coordinator: Miroslav Karić, MoCAB curator