¿Para usted qué es la felicidad?

We live in an overstimulated society, partly thanks to the recent technological revolution that promotes immediacy, instant gratification, and, therefore, disconnection from ourselves. The same one that sows dissatisfaction to promote excessive consumerism disguised as happiness and that confuses the burst of dopamine—the instant that gives momentary pleasure—with true happiness. Amid a profound dissociation, it is increasingly difficult to find spaces for introspection to connect with the true meaning of life, as it requires a great deal of awareness and courage.

The exhibition What Does Happiness Mean to You? is conceived as a space for reflection on the longed-for mental and emotional state that we call happiness, but which is so elusive for so many. It was born from the revision of The Happiness of Pablo Leyva, a series of six collages realized by Beatriz González in 1977, made from newspaper clippings given to her by engineer Pablo Leyva, which were later superimposed on a flower pattern print. In the clippings, a nurse, a teacher, a construction worker, an engineer, a mechanic, and a magazine salesman express their deepest desires while indirectly expressing their dissatisfaction with their profession. Once finished, the collages were copied and printed on paper to be used as table mats by diners in the cafeteria at the Museum of Modern Art in Bogotá, the artist’s workplace then. 

Viewing González’s work in the light of the current moment not only acquires great relevance but also points to polarities, to the duality of the world we inhabit, making us understand that, without suffering or frustration, we cannot know happiness. Aiming to put on the table multiple answers to the complex and profound question posed by the title of the exhibition, Beatriz González invites artists Bernardo Ortiz, Icaro Zorbar, Juliana Góngora, José Ruiz, Leyla Cárdenas, Nicolás Paris, and Snyder Moreno Martín to share their own definition of happiness from their subjectivity.

What Does Happiness Mean to You? Brings together a series of sensitive voices that, for a moment, invite us to pause, to be present, to simply feel moments of happiness in the smallest things in life.

Paula Bossa

Curator