What happens to an artistic practice when you become a parent? And what happens to an arts institution when an artist’s life disrupts its plans?
Stress Test reflects on how the birth of a child can affect both an artist and an institution. When an artist asked KIOSK to consider postponing his exhibition so he could care for his child, his request also became a stress test for KIOSK: how flexible can an institution be? What responsibility does it bear towards the people it works with?
KIOSK made room for his circumstances and chose to create something new in place of his exhibition. With the help of artists close to KIOSK and its network, a group exhibition took shape around fathers, fatherhood, fathering, and artistic practice. Works based on personal experiences and intimate stories explore care, the love and tension between father and child, and the desire to have or not to have children.
An open call for birth announcement cards designed by artist-fathers extended the invitation to contribute beyond KIOSK’s network. These cards bring together intimate and public moments: the arrival of a child, the announcement of a new life… and an artist becoming a father.
