Directed by Desire is a collaborative project iterated into a group exhibition conceived and curated by Daphne Vitali and Arnisa Zeqo and taking place in rongwrong, Amsterdam from 15 May to 2 July, 2022.

The exhibition brings together the work of mainly women artists and writers based in Greece, Italy and the Netherlands. The works deal with notions of desire, love and exhaustion. The sensitivity of the artists weaves together the personal with the political. The artworks invite us to think about the power of interpersonal relations and their effects in daily life. The exhibition presents both existing and newly commissioned works that move between longings for a person and for human solidarity altogether.

Directed by Desire addresses issues of affect and intimacy in the form of longing, frustration, tiredness, personal turmoil and tensions. These are emotions and situations often felt and experienced on a quotidian basis that determine both everyday lives and artistic creativity. In the exhibition, personal stories and imagined fantasies become strategies to confront the complexities of achievements, failures, self-negation, love, uneasiness, devotion and unfulfillment. Sensual pleasure and desire are sometimes linked with harsh, uneasy and demanding conditions such as distance, disillusionment, abandonments and other forms of emotional difficulties. The artists’ works engage different registers of intimacy and proximity and act as vehicles for emotional engagement.

The title of the exhibition is borrowed from a verse by American poet, intellectual and activist June Jordan (1936 – 2002) who has been an important reference for the curators while thinking of the power of the word and poetic sensibilities in relation to ideas of affect. Τhe artists participating hold a particular relation to language, writing, visual poetry and artists’ books.

Supported by NEON.