HBH Gallery

Are We Really Here? is a group show dealing with the niggling sensation that what we see isn't really what we get. Slowly our sense of ‘reality’ is fading, replaced by something worse and less authentic. We are entering the sub-real; a development which moves beyond the Enshitification of online platforms and other services, to a creeping replacement of the things you know by versions which bear only superficial equivalence. It is the data-driven, para-social dystopia where the brand is the product and content is king. 

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But what does it mean to be here? And how do we position ourselves in relation to the rest of society? The group of artists that we have gathered have a remarkable breadth of vision and response to these challenges. Together they depict a world in flux, where we are desperately searching for parts of ourselves that we have lost. They negotiate complex questions of identity, memory, place, desire, and what they have left behind are powerful windows in to the exquisite discomfort which it is to be human. The necessity of these little fragments which prove that we actually were here, living and breathing. Reinforcing the importance of what’s in front of your eyes.

 

The presentation of the space itself will move beyond the confines of the white cube, and encourage a new form of interaction. We will take the visitor on a journey, through a show which demands to be seen. The show will place importance on the need to stop and focus. It will encourage viewers to slow down, take their time, and look, look, look at the work. These are some of the most exciting artists of their generation and they deserve your attention.

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