Installation presented at Istituto Svizzero Milano, as part of the House of Switzerland on the occasion of Milan Design Week

“How can ‘joy’ – the theme of the House of Switzerland – manifest itself in the framework of artistic practices, but also in the current socio-political context?

Istituto Svizzero invites the artist, producer, scholar and DJ Fatima Wegmann Guinassi and the designer and scenographer Karen Pisoni to explore various aspects of ‘joy’, together they have created an immersive space that allows a moment of reflection and contemplation. The artist and the designer share the view that ‘joy’ is always an active choice that we opt for and that this decision for joy is always also inherent in a resistant political gesture. Fatima and Karen also explored the figure of the ‘killjoy’, which feminist theorist Sara Ahmed describes as a rebellious character who raises her voice against sexism and discrimination. Karen Pisoni focuses on the various sensitive levels of joy, which can also manifest itself as a real physical sensation in the haptics of materials or in the feeling of light. The figure of the killjoy appears in her animal figures, which rise up with tongues of fire. Fatima Wegmann Guinassi fills the space with the expressly composed audio piece Godspeed, in which she continues her research into the potential of science fiction storytelling: How can we fabulate collectively about a joyful and lustful future by drawing on fictional speculation in a bleak present?”