Delulu is (not) the solulu

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delulu is (not) the solulu

29 April 2025 – 20 June 2025

The world as we know it is turning upside down right in front of our eyes, and while global and local crises keep occurring around us, it has become an ordinary experience that control seems to be slipping through our fingers. Anxiety generated by this sense of losing one’s footing has historically been soothed by various forms of spiritual, occult or religious rituals. It is no surprise that in the past ten-fifteen years, magical thinking is having a renaissance on social media and beyond. This phenomenon can also signal the balancing swing of the pendulum, a reaction to the Zeitgeist of cold rationalism rooting in digital data and statistics.

As all booming trends, the revival of spiritualism also comes hand in hand with the overstimulation of consumer society, and hence, divides society: the masses of self-help books, the return of new age manifestation philosophy, the soaring of social media astrologists and the “delulu” (short for delusional) thinking of the TikTok generation are more alienating than alluring for many people. And while crowds believe that delulu thinking can take a positive turn, and that with enough self-confidence and unwavering optimism they can conquer the world in no time, their critics claim this philosophy is no more than a predestined crash and burn, spiced with some magical thinking. Amidst this noise, no one is in an easy position who would like to express themselves and analyze their own contemporary moment through the lens of spirituality.

We have spent our past years floating in a constant transitional state, and this experience left its mark on our psyche, and hence found its way to artistic expressions, as well. The exhibition delulu is (not) the solulu reacts to this delicate period by descending and wandering in the intersection of contemporary beliefs and ancient mythologies, in an age where old rituals no longer offer comforting answers or safe frameworks, but the new ones haven’t been born yet. The exhibiting artists analyze the contemporary occurrences of tarot, astrology, mythology or faith in general, and make use of these tools for individual and collective soul-searching, constructing one’s self and weaving narratives by connecting the dots of seemingly random life events. This is how they found their footing in the midst of chaos. They balance the seriousness of the situation with experimental works that bravely exceed boundaries and evoke the visual language of digital culture; not shying away from humor and irony, while walking on the tightrope stretched above the uncertain abyss of the spirit of our times.

Exhibiting artists:
Boglárka DANKÓ
Emese KÁDÁR
Berta MÁRVÁNY
Rebeka RÁCZ
Anna TÁNCOS

Curator:
Vanda SÁRAI