“Happiness is not an emotion, nor a purely subjective experience. It is the arbitrary and transistor harmony that brings together objects and people in a relationship of physical and spiritual intimacy.”
— Emanuele Coccia, Philosophy of the Home: Domestic Space and Happiness

“A waterfall is always an attractive goal for an excursion.”
— Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain

“We do what we like.”
— Julia Muggenburg

On this 25th anniversary of the incorporation and trademarking of the Belmacz name comes The Protagonist, a refractive group show – the exhibitionary embodiment of what the composite word alludes to. (‘Bel’ from de Maupassant’s Bel Ami, ‘ma’ an abbreviation of the Latin maximus, and the letter combination of ‘cz’ found in Slavic languages).

This show is a response as well as a reference to the prior The Conformist, (co-curated with Paul Kindersley, 23 February – 16 April 2016). The Protagonist refractures glints from our past to the now: it is a space to live, perhaps also an agora. All material sensibilities are allowed in, all visitors are hosted, all options are open.

The Protagonist transforms over its three-month duration, creating transitioning scenes, tableaus and clashes, amplifying the voices of our co-collaborators, constructing reverberations. Like the facets and reflections of the talismans and gems produced in-house, this exhibition is layered, evocative and celebratory.

Our protagonists are: Carla Åhlander, Jonathan Baldock, Isaac Benigson, Tim Berresheim, Aaron Amar Bhamra, James Lee Byars, Toby Christian, Than Hussein Clark, Coco Crampton, Frederika Dalwood, Michela de Mattei, Dial Records, Magdalena Drwiega, Erté, Francesca Flora, Jean-Claude Freymond-Guth (SAALHOF 1123), Florian Genzken, John Giorno, Duncant Grant, Johanna Magdalena Guggenberger, Paul Housley, Steph Huang, Ja Jess, Paul Kindersley, Claudia Kugler, Alastair Kwan, David Lieske, Camilla Løw, Agata Madejska, Mira Mann, Mara dei Boschi, Andrea Marcellier, Hanna Mattes, Elisabeth Molin, Laura Ní Fhlaibhín, Lydia Ourahmane, Paint it Black, Simon Popper, Postcard Teas, Eleni Poulou, Morten Skrøder Lund, Ettore Sottsass, Joel Tomlin, Lina Viste Grønli, Charlott Weise, Gernot Wieland, Rain Wu, Abbas Zahedi, and many more to be announced.