The “GAME ON” exhibition at the contemporary art gallery META Spațiu in Timișoara, curated by Mirela Stoeac-Vlăduți, questions the concept of competition, the relationship between art and sport, aesthetics and aggression, rules and chaos.

The exhibiting artists are Dona Arnakis, Mathias Bar, Cătălin Bătrânu, Szilard Gaspar, and George Roșu.

Power is the central determinant of the complex processes that underlie the discourse of tension and rivalry, the kind of power that Michel Foucault (2012) states has a dual, apparently antagonistic but essentially identical and simultaneous function: to punish and to heal or educate (Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison, 1979).
Even though sport/competition and the world of arts may not seem to have much in common, in practice the capitalist system constructs a complex system of power relations impacting all areas.

Since ancient times, the relationship between art and sport has been inseparable. In the attempt to find the perfect form of the human body, since ancient times, artists have appealed to the athletic body (whether we are talking about the body of Sisyphus outlined in the many absurd attempts – to which he is condemned by the gods – to push a huge rock forever, which once reached the top, rolled down again and the cazna was resumed, by Myron’s Discobolus ).
Another important factor in this intersection of domains is the function most engaged when we come into contact with them, namely the gaze.

What do all games have in common? Could it be the competition? Or the fact that it provides a source of entertainment? At the beginning of the last century, the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein posed this problem and analyzed how the playful aspect, approached aesthetically, is defined by uncertain limits, opens a possibility for dialogue and perspective projection of the individual, according to his own experiences and limitations.

The exhibition can be visited until April 16, 2023. Admission is free.