Looking Forward to Look Back, the personal exhibition of the artist Alexandra Mocan, exhibited in November at Şefania Palace in Timișoara, explores the uneasiness that arises from feeling out of control and our relationship with it as time passes. It questions how the pressures to perform and achieve shape our priorities, sometimes leaving little room for personal autonomy in choosing how we spend our lives. Between the demands of daily tasks and the constant push to “check off” accomplishments, can we truly reclaim our time, or is it perpetually slipping into the domain of productivity and performance? Is there a way to recover our past minutes, our past days – and what is past anyway, and what holds the future? Though many quantic theories suggest that time does not exist – our linearity is inevitable – while the physical time for us here is finite.
Through various perspectives, the exhibition contemplates the length of our lives and our perception of it, contrasting the Western world’s time-centric focus with more meditative approaches that invite viewers to observe different ways in which time can be perceived. Some works are self-reflective or offer ironic representations of the collective pressure we face as time might become an increasingly finite resource—for both individuals and multiple other species. Irony often emerges in explorations of “leisure” or “fun” under the guise of freedom, subtly tied to the spectacle of consumption. The illusion of enjoyment serves as a distraction, keeping us engaged in a cycle that sustains a consumption-driven culture while we unknowingly carry the burden of perpetuating it. lexandra Mocans practice ranges across various mediums, each chosen to best explore the subject at hand. She is particularly interested in manipulating perception and examining subjects/concepts through their opposites. Often employing humor, she plays with aesthetics and functionality to invent new and impossible roles for ordinary objects. Usually, there can be found in her practice objects which perform, or a performative characteristic is applied to her works, either theres some interaction required, or she is the protagonist of her works. Many of her works challenge viewers’ expectations, prompting reflection on automatic behaviors and inherited beliefs, creating scenarios where dysfunctionality and irony converge.
The subjects she aims to explore in this exhibition bring into focus the pressure tied to the finite nature of time—whether through deadlines, the limits of life, or the unknown that lies beyond it. Acknowledging our inability to know what the future holds after our physical time here, she reflects on the various pressures that drive us to treat time as a precious resource to be optimized. Her investigations revolve around the frustration of not being able to reclaim lost time and the absurdity of our desire to live fast, a mindset strongly influenced by corporate ideologies specific to Western culture.
Ultimately, the exhibition invites us to question whether we are truly living in the present or constantly racing against it. Through metaphorical and ironic responses to this question, the works encourage contemplation on whether all this speed actually brings us closer to the absolute consumption of our physical lives.
Alexandra Mocan (b. 1991, Cluj) explores the tension between pessimism and optimism, highlighting the irony between them. Her works focus on resilience and improving social conditions and are usually inspired by Balkan culture, Oriental philosophies, and themes of failure and decay. She often incorporates text and reinterprets existing objects to challenge originality. She holds an MA in painting from UAD Cluj and has co-founded and curated MATCA artspace since 2017.
This artistic creation was funded by the Energie! Creation Grants, provided by the Municipality of Timișoara through Centrul de Proiecte. The creation does not necessarily represent the position of Centrul de Proiecte of the Municipality of Timișoara, and it is not responsible for its content or the way it may be used. The project is organized in partnership with the Municipality of Timișoara through the Centrul de Proiecte.
Partners: House of European Institutes, Empower Artists, Asociația la Pătrat, MATCA artspace Supported by: Matei Toșa, Cezar Cîmpeanu, Andriana Oborocean, Lateral Artspace, Indecis, George Șimon, Mădălina Surducan, Alexandru Muraru, Oana Pop.
