It's Urgent!

"The project It’s Urgent! was inspired by conversations with our friend and mentor, the late Martinican philosopher, writer and poet Édouard Glissant. Observing that the places in which exhibitions are traditionally presented are invisible to large sections of society, Glissant encouraged us to think about other forms of engagement and more generous models of open-source exhibitions that are extremely mobile and reach places where one would not expect to see art.

Glissant imagined art institutions of the future as archipelagos, networks of interrelationships between different cultures, based on the values of networked perspectives. His archipelagic concept promotes dialogue and diversity and proposes a syncretic system of thought, reflective of a polycentric world. Glissant has talked of the value of an art institution that would harbour a quest for the unknown, a safe haven where worlds are brought into contact with each other. LUMA set out to incorporate these ideas into its programme.

It’s Urgent! began in 2019 in Denmark, where it was hosted by Kunsthal Charlottenborg and the Heartland Festival. During the election campaign for the European Parliament in 2019, artists were invited to think about the present and the future of Europe in an outdoor display of posters on billboards. The aim was to make the artists’ ideas available to all, open up to new audiences and insert them into public life and the community at large.

Following the successful presentation in Denmark, It’s Urgent! transformed to become more complex, including a greater number of artists. From Summer 2019 to early 2020 its multiple narratives enlivened the exhibition programme of the Luma Foundation at Luma Westbau in Zurich. Artists from all over the world responded to our invitation to address the most pressing themes of our times — ecology, inequality, common future, solidarity, anti-racism and social justice had a profound presence in this vast ensemble of creative endeavour.

The exhibition travelled to LUMA Arles in June 2020, where all the posters associated with the project were shown in the unconventional space of the "Médico Social" at the Parc des Ateliers. Over the months of July, August and September 2020, new posters were commissioned and were displayed alongside the existing ones. More artists responded to our call to reflect on the current moment, while previous participants were stimulated to contribute new works. A series of recorded and socially distanced private conversations with participating artists provided a better understanding of the context and ideas behind the posters.

That was at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic had already affected more than 200 countries and territories, with unprecedented consequences for the way in which we live, behave, socialise and govern our societies. At this moment, facing shifting global urgencies, we decided to offer a renewed sense of openness to the world, putting forward our belief in creativity and art and telling stories that strengthen our understanding of care and interdependence. In such an uncertain world, where creative solutions are key, the ultimate goal of this project is to enable artists to produce reality. We aim to bring to light moments of originality and nurture the radically different order that will emerge out of the current transformations. Along the course of the project and the catalytic changes we have experienced, we draw constant inspiration from the work of our friend, French-Lebanese artist and poet Etel Adnan, who reminds us that "the world needs togetherness, not separation. Love, not suspicion. A common future, not isolation."

The exhibition includes 153 posters by 127 participating artists."

Maja Hoffmann, Founder and Executive President of LUMA Arles
Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director, Serpentine Galleries, Curator of It’s Urgent!