Decay: An Ode to the Impermanent

Falling, crumbling, rotting and decomposing so as to grow. What are the ethics we bring to concepts of preservation and decay? We nourish and flourish through embracing the discomfort of decay. Decay as the fruitful ground upon which we stand. The ongoing process of decay, of rebuilding and blossoming. Matter changes, time changes. We embrace the discomfort of the unknown and the experiment, and observe what grows. Death not as the end but rather as the precursor of life. Through this notion of decay, we want to reimagine and reorient the institution. Decay in this respect could provoke discomfort, but it is precisely this feeling of discomfort that we wish to encourage people to become more comfortable with.

"why decay ?
A state or
A process of decomposition to a statement of hope or desire
From the darker side of our sentiments there will be a new beautiful melody
From destruction we can a built a new emotions.
From tragedy there will be certain kind of perfection.
À partir d’une perte il y a toujours des retrouvailles
Inside absence there is always a presence

To confirm all of those declamations perfume is the medium.
Perfume comes from the process of decomposition
And from this decay we can create new fantasies.
Rano maso rano masina rano manitra.

Process
10 paintings
61 days
61 fragrances
1 space

At the beginning each painting will be almost virgin. Black lines on the new playground.
Everyday each painting will be sprayed with one perfume chosen from the library of fragrances.
The idea is to create from the decomposition of the perfume and the painting a new visual aspect of hopes and desires.
The audience will deal with the evolution of all the installation and
Again from dirt we can create beauty and from decay we can built peace. "

— Joël Andrianomearisoa

Press release

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Decay: An Ode to the Impermanent

May 25 — Jul 25, 2023 | Buro Stedelijk Central Space, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Falling, crumbling, rotting and decomposing so as to grow. What are the ethics we bring to concepts of preservation and decay? We nourish and flourish through embracing the discomfort of decay. Decay as the fruitful ground upon which we stand. The ongoing process of decay, of rebuilding and blossoming. Matter changes, time changes. We embrace the discomfort of the unknown and the experiment, and observe what grows. Death not as the end but rather as the precursor of life. Through this notion of decay, we want to reimagine and reorient the institution. Decay in this respect could provoke discomfort, but it is precisely this feeling of discomfort that we wish to encourage people to become more comfortable with.

We embrace the muck of the moment we inhabit, the temporality of the space, of this possible future. We aim to embrace the decay of the ground we sit on and acknowledge that it is here to show us the possibilities without over-focussing on joy or by under-focussing on the complexities of trauma.

Can we unsettle certain European ideas of preservation and celebrate the care that goes into dying, rotting and decomposition of certain ideas, structures and beliefs? We want to bring experimentation back into the institution, by realizing the decay and building up, for new, more inspired and unbolted futures and presents to emerge. Reparative acts require tearing down structures of exclusion and denial that have sheltered the museum project from reckoning with its own complicity in problematic projects of colonialism.

The idea of repair is an impossible one, since repair inevitably keeps the hegemonic order intact. Yet again, not everything can decay, and so ‘unsettling’ can only take place if decay is a potentiality. We explore what the potentiality of decay and rebirth could mean whilst acknowledging that some things will never decay.

Together with artists we explore what is at stake when we inhabit the present as rotting. A decaying present full of opportunities. Joël Andrianomearisoa develops the scent of decay and despair through his work. Narges Mohammadi explores decay as temporality, holding a space and vanishing. Becoming and disappearing. Geo Wyex explores what stinks beneath the surface. He makes us listen to the muck of decay. These artists, thinkers, makers and breakers help us imagine the possibilities that decay offers through their provocations.