Everything is Connected: Art and Conspiracy

When we look back through time we are faced with a past chequered with mystery, intrigue and deceit. Tangled in this web of antiquity is the idea that something is not quite right, the notion that certain things don’t add up.
This ability to ‘think outside of the box’, of possessing the courage to question the way things are at the very core of human nature. The controversial theme of conspiracy is explored in a new exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
The exhibition features over 70 works by 30 artists from the years 1969 to 2016, ranging from paintings and sculptures to video and installation art. Curator Douglas Eklund describes how the exhibition explores ‘the depths of the darkest aspects of American culture’, offering its viewers an alternative version of post-war history.
The first half of the exhibition focuses on the more traditional aspect of conspiracy in the representation of fact finding. An example of this is displayed in the networks surrounding businessmen, politicians and arms dealers and can also be seen in the reveal of black sites where people were taken by the U.S. government for torture.
The second half of the exhibition sees artists such as Mike Kelley, Jim Shaw and Sue Williams creating dream-like fantastical responses to questionable facts our history presents us with. Through observation of such works of art we gain power in confronting these pre-conceived notions, ultimately encouraging us to question the very existence of the world around us.
Until 6 Jan 2019
The Met Breuer
945 Madison Avenue,
New York,
NY 10021
metmuseum.org
> Laura Pugh