BIGOTRY IN EVOLUTION
“Steam Machine” is the central work of Bigotry in Evolution, an exhibition by me, Matteo De Caminada, first presented at Kleine Galerie, Bolzano, Italy this January.
Bigotry in Evolution confronts the contemporary resurgence of bigotry as a global and evolving force. Across continents, reactionary ideologies are no longer fringe; they are reorganising, gaining power, and reshaping public life. What we are witnessing is not a return to the past, but a mutation: modern bigotry adapting to new technologies, political strategies, and collective fears.
The exhibition traces how current waves of right-wing extremism, nationalism, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia intersect with global conflicts, media manipulation, and forms of political leadership that thrive on division. From culture wars to armed conflicts, the violence of exclusion is no longer symbolic; it has become structural, normalised, and globally circulated.
Bigotry in Evolution responds through refusal: refusal to remain silent, neutral, or diminished. It asserts the necessity of pride, queerness, feminism, openness, and collective resistance as political acts. Being visible, loud, and unapologetic is not an aesthetic choice, it is a condition of survival.
Rather than offering comfort, the works expose mechanisms of power, fear, and control, while reclaiming vulnerability and solidarity as tools of opposition. The exhibition ultimately asks not only how bigotry evolves, but how resistance must evolve alongside it.
In a moment when reactionary forces attempt to dominate narratives, borders, and bodies, Bigotry in Evolution insists on radical visibility and shared responsibility. It is a call to recognise that openness is not weakness, care is not naïveté, and pride is not provocation.
Steam Machine is an interactive tech-sculpture. When activated, it produces steam that gradually covers the glass surface, obscuring visibility and transforming transparency into opacity. The work stages a physical process of concealment, where clarity is slowly replaced by distortion and blindness.
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