From July 6 to September 7, the Surrealist Group of Paris is organizing the 19th international exhibition of surrealism in Saint-Cirq-Lapopie in partnership with the La Rose Impossible association, manager of the International Center for Surrealism and Global Citizenship. This exhibition, entitled Merveilleuse utopia, will be held in the Maisons André Breton and Émile Joseph-Rignault.
Although it falls within the framework of the centenary of the publication of the Surrealist Manifesto, the exhibition is in no way commemorative, but is designed to mark the persistence of surrealism as a living movement in its continuity after Breton’s death in 1966, in the spirit of the exhibitions of 1938, 1947, 1959, 1965 and 1976. To this end, the greater part of the space will be devoted to contemporary works by European artists and groups (France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the United Kingdom, etc.) and American artists (United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, etc.).
A place will be made for works of raw or singular art that their imaginative power places on the margins of surrealism.
Why Wonderful Utopia? To recall the revolutionary principles of surrealism: transforming the world, changing life, remaking human understanding from scratch (A. Breton) and the central place it gives to the emancipatory powers of the imagination. This is in opposition to the idea that surrealism is an aesthetic or a simple artistic movement. The island is traditionally the privileged place of utopia, the exhibition is designed as a journey through five islands drawing a utopian archipelago: The island of dreams, The island of revolt, The island of metamorphoses, L Island of Love and Island of Abundance.
The cross-cutting themes will be the passionate attraction according to Charles Fourier (1772-1837) and the upside-down world of the land of Cocagne. Beyond the original utopia of Thomas More (1516) and all those conceived in his wake, surrealism today aims to re-enchant utopia as a place of both individual and collective happiness.
