IONE & MANN presents “Hold Me Now”, a group exhibition curated by Huma Kabakci with artists Shannon Bono, Yulia Iosilzon and Vanessa da Silva exploring the urgency of care-politics, healing and togetherness. In a post-Covid and capitalist world where carelessness reigns, and humanity is missing, we need embracing, touching and healing.
Over the past few decades, a majority of us have experienced living in a social system where we have been encouraged and accustomed to feel and act as hyper-individualised, competitive subjects who primarily look out for themselves. In reality, to thrive, we need caring communities where we can be interdependent and conditions that enable us to act collaboratively to create communities where we can nurture our interdependencies. In the context of care and the need for collectivity, the “holding” in the exhibition title symbolises caring and nurturing relationships, and the urgency of physical touch and love is emphasised with “now”. The act of “holding” often implies a sense of vulnerability or dependence, highlighting interdependence and mutual vulnerability, emphasising the importance of care, compassion, and empathy in shaping socio-political relationships and policies. How can we live in the present in a society where there is no security, a sense of comfort or care? Has the notion of touching and holding become a luxury?