“What constitutes a Republic is the total destruction of that which is opposed to it.” – Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just, On The Ventose Decrees
“The Republic consists in the extermination of all who oppose it.” -Simon Schama’s translation of Saint-Just from the work “On The Ventose Decrees”

Throughout history, people have and will always justify the use of coercion, enforcement, and violence; towards attaining their perfecting of humanity. We are always tempted in this action to achieve a form of the moral construct as a path towards perfecting humanity; however, by engaging in such action we risk through no fault of our own will eventually end in violence.

Cucumbers and lubes is an exhibition that aims to explore the question of what is power, and who has the right to power; we aim to ask and answer these questions via our practice in order to understand and communicate. The main aspects will be: who has the right to power; where does the power come from; how is power gained; and can power ever be released from individuals how have the possibilities to exploit it. The latter is probably for most an invalided statement since in most cases where power is taken or exploited it is often not released willingly by the individuals.  Even this should be considered in the rhetoric that is being promoted in today’s society. Can power ever be given and entrusted to individuals or should it always be fought over in order to keep an individual’s liberty and freedoms in tack?

We will therefore ask our audience where there is a possibility for artists to explore the subject matter of power or does it automatically become problematic as a subject matter. How can we create an exhibition about power when it will reduce the audience to subjects of the works; is it possible for artists and creatives to observe power within the modern world without displaying a sense of ideological mantra. This action is fine since most artists will make work that defines a specific ideology or should work towards driving a narrative that benefits society and cultural evolution. We should still recognize that power is as much about the exploitation of individuals it allow one to be exploited.

Participating artists: