Pain and Desire
This exhibition explores the interrelations between pain and pleasure, trauma and desire, presenting the body both as a silent witness to individual suffering and as a carrier of collective memory. Through this dual prism, the exhibition opens up a multilayered space where the experience of the body is perceived on both visual and sensory levels.
Location: Fluxsus Space, Baku, AZ
Date: 16.09 - 18.09.2025
Curator: Mansura Mammadaliyeva
Mentor: Sabina Shikhlinskaya
Presented Artists:
Schachnas Aghhayeva
Eltaj Zeynalov
Eltaj Zeynalov
Rashad Babayev
In this context, the body is not merely a physical entity; it becomes a vessel of memory, trauma, and emotional experience. Sigmund Freud’s theory of trauma holds particular significance here. According to Freud, shocking experiences are never fully erased; they remain hidden in the deeper layers of the psyche, re-emerging through bodily reactions or visual forms. In this sense, the body acts as a silent yet intense witness to past pain.
Building on this idea, Julia Kristeva’s concept of the “abject” body questions how the body is perceived within social and cultural frameworks. Freud’s notion of “repressed pain” transforms in Kristeva’s work into a “rejected form.” Figures that do not conform to normative aesthetics—deformed bodies, distorted contours, and frozen movements—become tools of aesthetic provocation in this exhibition. This visual discomfort creates both distancing and recognition, revealing hidden truths.
This space of discomfort becomes the ground where desire takes shape. Within the theoretical framework of Jacques Lacan, the body transcends the boundaries of pain and becomes a carrier of desire, erotic energy, and sensory harmony. However, according to Lacan, desire is never fully satisfied; it is always directed toward an unattainable object. In this process, the body becomes a symbol of both longing and its impossibility. Thus, it embodies both the fragmentation of the self and the perpetual search for wholeness.
The exhibition “Pain and Desire” analyzes the body through multiple theoretical perspectives, constructing an aesthetic dialogue between pain and pleasure, trauma and desire, and offering the viewer a sensory, intellectual, and multilayered spatial experience.
Held at Fluxus Space, the exhibition “Pain and Desire” presents the body within the dynamics of pain–pleasure and trauma–desire. Here, the body appears both as a witness to individual suffering and as a carrier of universal passion.
The exhibition is not merely an exposition, but also an invitation to listen to the silenced memory of the body.
Building on this idea, Julia Kristeva’s concept of the “abject” body questions how the body is perceived within social and cultural frameworks. Freud’s notion of “repressed pain” transforms in Kristeva’s work into a “rejected form.” Figures that do not conform to normative aesthetics—deformed bodies, distorted contours, and frozen movements—become tools of aesthetic provocation in this exhibition. This visual discomfort creates both distancing and recognition, revealing hidden truths.
This space of discomfort becomes the ground where desire takes shape. Within the theoretical framework of Jacques Lacan, the body transcends the boundaries of pain and becomes a carrier of desire, erotic energy, and sensory harmony. However, according to Lacan, desire is never fully satisfied; it is always directed toward an unattainable object. In this process, the body becomes a symbol of both longing and its impossibility. Thus, it embodies both the fragmentation of the self and the perpetual search for wholeness.
The exhibition “Pain and Desire” analyzes the body through multiple theoretical perspectives, constructing an aesthetic dialogue between pain and pleasure, trauma and desire, and offering the viewer a sensory, intellectual, and multilayered spatial experience.
Held at Fluxus Space, the exhibition “Pain and Desire” presents the body within the dynamics of pain–pleasure and trauma–desire. Here, the body appears both as a witness to individual suffering and as a carrier of universal passion.
The exhibition is not merely an exposition, but also an invitation to listen to the silenced memory of the body.
- Exposition
Artists and presented works:
Shahnaz Agayeva
In the works of Shahnaz Agayeva, the female body emerges as a return of suppressed desires. Her figures become visual traces of these intimate longings.
Rashad Babayev
Artist Rashad Babayev presents pain as a source of spiritual transformation, elevating it into an aesthetic space of transcendental pleasure.
Eltac Zeynalov
Photographer Eltac Zeynalov foregrounds the pain of deformed bodies, emphasizing the harsh imprints of life.
In the works of Shahnaz Agayeva, the female body emerges as a return of suppressed desires. Her figures become visual traces of these intimate longings.
Rashad Babayev
Artist Rashad Babayev presents pain as a source of spiritual transformation, elevating it into an aesthetic space of transcendental pleasure.
Eltac Zeynalov
Photographer Eltac Zeynalov foregrounds the pain of deformed bodies, emphasizing the harsh imprints of life.
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