Céline Cuvelier - Jetlag Dream

This exhibition is put together as an attempt at a conversation about the reasons for human travel and the developmental mechanisms behind our fantasies of Elsewhere. It invites us to reflect on a series of images connected to these journeys, ranging from mass tourism to contemporary migration; some of which inspire to travel and some which show the consequences.

Since the beginning of time it has been thought that a place exists where the emptiness inside us will be filled and all our desires met; that such a place is not here but elsewhere, and is waiting to be conquered. An array of images feeds into this fantastical idea: light, calmness and satisfaction, images magnified by the global economy, the advertising industry but also by our own ability to advertise our lives.

A fantasy-fuelling machine. A machine that we oil, that we feed with omissions, Clarendon filters and flattering angles. When the only escape from the sour present is a fabulous elsewhere, we give it a little coat of varnish to touch up the smiles on souvenir photos even if the paint on top silently cracks.

There is very little scope for failure in the glorious conquest of this marvellous Eldorado. So when the divide is too wide, the disappointment inaudible, you plaster over the cracks and fill in the gaps in order for reality and fantasy to coincide. The experience of a tourist or that of a newcomer, to the economy of travel, time spent on the journey, extreme fatigue, the dictatorship of happiness or the need for relief are all issues which are woven by the artist into this exhibition.

Céline Cuvelier (°1988)

So let’s rush off to fill in our gaps and raise a toast to our bottled Eldorado from our sunshine-coloured room.