Totalitarian Props is a transdisciplinary exhibition with a parallel engagement programme for viewers to consider the distortions of reality which result from different types of control structures of government, such as colonialism and dictatorship, when they rule over a particular people.

Picking up on case studies of political systems, it aims to show how truth is centrally perverted and disguised from those being governed and manipulated, wherein the line between fact and fiction is blurred for years and years during and after the run of such authority models.

Artists engaged with the theme utilise the creative disciplines to bring together material in imaginative ways, offering unexpected and powerful insights. Some of the work explores personal narratives whilst other artists interrogate the broader socio-political contexts in which the observations lie. Still others will zoom in and out of the overlooked colonial past relative to North Africa and Africa, and the complex intertwined identities which have manifested from that.

As some of the subject matter is sensitive on the personal and collective levels, the show acknowledges that there are conflicting memories of the historical past. But it still wants to present a nuanced understanding of the contemporary social orders of the post-socialist and post-colonial cultures under investigation and engage with the audience to ask questions and seek answers.

The project will also explore the role of political symbols and rituals in the chosen case studies and how these relate to local self-perception as well as to outer impressions. It will employ the staging and props of a totalitarian context for deeper reflection. Constructed of two parts, there will be the exhibition with the artworks and installations, whilst the engagement programme presents two film screenings and two panel discussions.

More information here