Sweaty Armpits: We All Live in Bodies
Site: 120710
Sep 14 – Oct 19, 2024
Curators: Helia Pouyanfar and Lucy Puls
Description: The exhibition Sweaty Armpits explores anxiety through artists' work that—for various
material or conceptual reasons—elicits awareness of bodily energy, alertness, and sensory
vibrations.
Anxiety's visceral nature can amplify the powerful, sometimes overwhelming sensations and
electrifying effects associated with being human—that we, as animals, reflexively respond to
in our perpetually changing world. The works in this exhibition fundamentally connect with
us from a place beyond language—a place of the body. While it's unknown whether these
artists intentionally explored anxiety, we imagine that their thinking, working, and material
processes led them into this territory.
The premise of Sweaty Armpits reminds us that experience begins with the body, not just the
mind. This truth grounds us in corporeal reality—as we encounter the world first through
bodily sensations like sweat and temperature—before forming abstract thoughts. The
exhibition situates thinking itself as emerging from embodied existence, not a disembodied
intellect, insisting we recognize the primacy of our fleshly forms as the basis for
consciousness.
Sweaty Armpits features a gathering of artists whose approaches to the innately human
experience of anxiety originate from diverse positions. This perspective reflects our actual
world, highlighting both the universality and unique characteristics of stress.
Ultimately, the exhibition underscores our shared sense of empathy and connection,
reminding us of a fundamental truth we frequently overlook—we all live in bodies.
