The exhibition L’usure du milieu de l’art : zone sinistrée dans un décor de théâtre abandonné by Milutin Gubash, curated by Marie-Hélène Leblanc at Galerie UQO (November 20, 2024 – January 18, 2025), explores the tensions between artistic production, obsolescence, and commodification. The gallery is transformed into a chaotic space filled with second-hand objects, evoking a society overwhelmed by overconsumption. The central installation — a makeshift machine producing absurd replicas of obsolete objects in fake chocolate — highlights the precarity and recycling of cultural artifacts.
Two podcasts accompany the exhibition: one with sociologist Nikolaj Schultz on the Anthropocene and practices of reuse, and another with philosopher Jérémie McEwen on narratives of painful social transitions.
Through appropriation, accumulation, and dark humor (notably in the video Discounted Yugoslavian Chocolates), Gubash reveals how consumer goods lose their symbolic value while gaining new narrative potential. The exhibition critiques not only the art world but also the broader capitalist system, while celebrating the resilience and creativity that can emerge from ruins.
About the exhibition : https://galerie.uqo.ca/exposition/desuetude-du-milieu-de-lart-zone-sinistree-dans-un-decor-de-theatre-abandonne
Reference :
Jessica Ragazzini « L’usure du milieu de l’art : zone sinistrée dans un décor de théâtre abandonné by Milutin Gubash at Galerie UQO (2024-2025) », ESSE, no. 114, 2025