Sad generation with happy pictures

“We are a sad generation with happy pictures” – a phrase stumbled upon in the depths of the internet became the starting point for ELEVEN TEN STUDIO’s 2025 exhibition program. It’s more than a catchy quote – it’s a snapshot of the everyday dissonance between how we appear on the outside and what we truly experience within. It speaks to the masks we wear – online and offline – to keep up with a world that both fascinates and overwhelms us.

The exhibition Sad Generation with Happy Pictures is the culmination of four artistic voices previously presented in Basel: Duncan Passmore, Matthias Amsler, Luca Harlacher, and Viviane Herzog. Each of them touches on a different facet of the contemporary millennial experience: intimacy and corporeality, burnout and exhaustion, fragmented identity, the need for connection, and the fleeting nature of emotion. These four narratives, shown independently before, will be brought together for the first time in one shared space in Warsaw – just as conflicting visions, needs, and emotions coexist in today’s society.

This exhibition is not only a generational confrontation but also a cultural one. The project’s curator – an artist raised in Poland and now working in an international context – asks: how do millennials experience reality across different parts of Europe? What is considered the norm in one place may still be an aspiration in another. How do our emotions, needs, and dreams shift depending on the social, economic, and cultural context? Do Western narratives of burnout, information overload, and hustle culture resonate equally in regions still shaped by post-transition realities, where everyday life follows different rhythms?

“Zastaw się, a postaw się” – a Polish saying heard at weddings and family gatherings, roughly translating to “stretch yourself thin to impress others” – seems to perfectly capture the millennial mindset in the Instagram era. On one hand, we strive for authenticity; on the other, we construct our identities through filters and strategies. This exhibition seeks to explore these paradoxes from multiple perspectives: digital and physical, personal and collective.