The age of entitlement
Subtitle: or affordable tooth extraction
By: Sven 't Jolle, editor: Zoë Gray
Contributors: Gray, Zoë, 1978- editor, curator; Wiels (Gallery : Brussels, Belgium)
Publisher: MER. Paper Kunsthalle; WIELS
Published: 2017
Place of publication: Gent; Brussles
Language: eng
Number of pages: 190
ISBN-13: 9789492321497
Copyright date: 2017
Subjects: Exhibitions; Art and society; History
Other titles: Affordable tooth extraction
Description: Jolle's work is a humorous and impassioned critique of capitalism. Presenting his sculptures, installations and works on paper, this exhibition at WIELS offers a generous overview of his recent practice. It reveals how he fuses together historical references and citations from everyday life to create new and eloquent constellations of images, forms and ideas. His work explores the values of contemporary society, addressing with understated humour its inequalities. The title for this exhibition is taken from a 2012 speech by the former Australian treasurer Joe Hockey. Decrying the welfare state as unsustainable, Hockey proclaimed: The Age of Entitlement is over.'t Jolle approaches the phrase both critically and generously, using it to explore the question of entitlement more broadly. Who is entitled to what? Who decides upon this entitlement? The pun upon the Age of Enlightenment is far from accidental. The Enlightenment was the dominant philosophical movement of the eighteenth century in Europe, founded on ideals of reason, tolerance and liberty. Today, while the same words are often applied to the neo-liberal society in which we live, their meaning or our understanding of them ' has changed dramatically, as ?t Jolle underscores in his work. By giving the exhibition a second, or alternative title 'Affordable Tooth Extraction' 't Jolle undercuts any pompousness with an absurd verbal juxtaposition that nevertheless refers to the dismantling of the welfare state and public healthcare. Exhibition: WIELS, Brussels, Belgium (13.01-19.03.2017).
Notes: Published on the occasion of an exhibition at Wiels, Brussels, Belgium, January 13 - March 19, 2017.

Includes bibliographical references.

Text in English, French and Dutch.