Opening: Wednesday 18 February 2026, 19:30
How do we understand the human form, society, and the role of art in social change?
After the abstract trends that dominated art up until the 1950s, the recognizable image and form returned in the 1960s and 1970s, offering alternative narratives. At the heart of the need for a renewal of realism and the expressiveness of the image, in a world moving away from the fundamental need of art to represent human existence, many artists challenged traditional values of society and the art world.
New narratives portrayed moments of everyday life, commented on social or political issues, recognized the influence of advertising, mass culture, and the media, and reflected the speed, contradictions, and complexities of contemporary life. New forms of realism emerged, not as copies of reality, but as representations of the internal psychological conflicts of the individual and social failures.
The exhibition attempts a journey through works and artists from the European sphere, highlighting the struggle of representational narratives and shedding new light on the world of reality and objects. All of them were either connected to movements such as Nouvelle Figuration or the New Realists group of France, or their work exists in the echo of these movements.
Their works, in the way they recall social alienation, political upheaval, and the contradictions of human nature, retain their power not only as a historical artistic phenomenon but also as a compass for contemporary art and life.
The works of art presented in the exhibition come from the MOMUS-Museum of Contemporary Art collections and private collections.
Curated by: Thouli Misirloglou, Artistic Director of MOMUS-Museum of Contemporary Art-Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art and State Museum of Contemporary Art
Assistant curator: Katerina Syroglou
Artists: Arman, Eduardo Arroyo, Danil (Panagopoulos), Erik Dietman, Erró, Hervé Fischer, Raymond Hains, Nikos Kessanlis, Peter Klasen, Jacques Monory, Pavlos (Dionysopoulos), Jean-Pierre Raynaud, Chryssa Romanos, Antonio Segui, Vassilis Skylakos, Yvon Taillandier, Jean Tinguely, Jacques Villeglé.
