The achievement society

The exhibition is about the concept of the achievement society, as defined by Byung-Chul Han and other authors. A society that concentrates on production as a self-imposed objective, in which the positivity of can rises above the negativity of should that was derived from the earlier paradigm developed in what Michel Foucault called the disciplinary society.

The artists and the works selected offer reflections about various aspects that we may associate with the achievement society, such as the organisation of society derived from the world of work, education, the concepts of tension and balance or the redimensioning of time. In the exhibition, the artists Lorenzo Sandoval, Irene Grau, Lluc Mayol, Nuria Fuster, Juan Sánchez, Andrea Canepa and Manu Blázquez show that they belong to a generation that has experienced a time of crisis at an important point in their personal and professional development, a crisis that seems never-ending and that has brought with it a reappraisal of our values and our ways of life.

The place where the exhibition is being presented, IVAM Alcoi, is important. Alcoi is a town with a significant industrial past that has had a considerable influence on its subsequent development. This industrial past, especially the part connected with the textile industry, is the reason for taking Alcoi as a reference point for the projects developed by these artists, who in this way connect with their town, its social agents, its past and its present, thus showing that the placeis something that extends beyond its physical location.