Hamja Ahsan, I DON’T BELONG HERE, 34th Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts, 2021, installation view of the exhibition of the Grand Prize Winner at ZVKDS Gallery.
Photo: Klemen Ilovar. MGLC Archive.
In 2019, Hamja Ahsan received the Grand Prize of the 33rd Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts for his work Aspergistan Referendum. Aspergistan Referendum, which took place in Ljubljana, asked residents to vote to join the imaginary state of shy, introverted and autistic people. 72 percent of the voters decided to join.
The exhibition I DON’T BELONG HERE toyed with the positive outcome of the referendum at that time and showed the history of this activist movement against the dominance of the extroverts. It ironically addressed the repressive aspects of the state apparatus, the enforced polarisation of society and the relevance of individual initiative to bring about the necessary radical changes in the community.
Hamja Ahsan is an artist, activist and curator, who lives and works in London and Maastricht. He is the author of the book Shy Radicals: The Antisystemic Politics of the Militant Introvert and co-founder of the DIY Cultures festival of creative activism, fanzines and independent publishing.
Curator: Yasmín Martín Vodopivec.
Assistant Curator: Simona Jerala.
Co-producer: Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia (ZVKDS).
“As I toured the book across the UK, people connected with the fictional world and the citizens of Aspergistan through their own real-life struggles with day-to-day living and the lack of institutional recognition of their differences. Some people really wanted to live in the state of Aspergistan. Imagine there could be emergency public services like 999 that I could dial up every time I wanted to escape from a party? Imagine if the institution of Parliament and the debating chambers prioritised the act of listening above the act of speaking, above or over its citizens? Imagine the national anthem was simply the act of listening to a seashell that involved no charade or public performance. Could such a world be possible? That was the central question of my book tour and project which continues to this day.”
(Hamja Ahsan)
“Visitors to the 2021 edition of the Biennale have the opportunity to learn about the beginnings and developments of the Shy Radicals project. As with many other zealous revolutionary movements, the history of the project could lead to misinterpretation if treated too superficially or limited to its subversiveness and utopianism. As radical rebels against the dominance of extroversion, a culture of hypersociality and violent positivity, the members of the movement founded by Hamja Ahsan are fighting to break the now timeless dynamic of neoliberalism, which systematically banishes difference and thus seeks to silence any action that might trigger a sudden change.” (Yasmín Martín Vodopivec)