The Narrative of Decline: Group Exhibition

CARBON 12 is pleased to present The Narrative of Decline, a group exhibition that brings together the work of Oliver Laric, Tamina Amadyar, Monika Grabuschnigg, Monia Ben Hamouda, Ridley Howard, Maureen Kägi, Claudia Larcher, Oliver Laric, Nour Malas, Philip Mueller and Christoph Ruckhäberle.

Decay has its own beauty, as Thomas Mann observes in his monumental work, The Magic Mountain. Andrea Roelig expands on this idea in her essay, ‘The Narrative of Decline:’ "We stand between death and life, and decline is dangerously enticing because it also carries an element of seduction." Like a rollercoaster ride—the feeling of weightlessness as it plunges downward, both terrifying and liberating.

The French sociologist Roger Caillois calls this intoxicating state “Illinx,” the dizziness that follows a loss of stability, order, and control. Social structures begin to falter, disorientation spreads. Illinx—an ecstatic panic that emerges when everything teeters on the brink, when certainty gives way to chaos and the course is not yet set. Creation in reverse—where there was once something, now there is to be nothing.

The frantic pace of modern life elevates this dizziness to a collective level—everything spins, a carousel ride where one clings to the seats to avoid being flung off too soon. Ultimately, this liminal space of neither-nor provides a breeding ground for all manner of radical movements. Once the ship begins to capsize, there is no stopping it. Ideas are unleashed without restraint, primarily repackaging the old as something new.