Collective exhibition project "Signs of Time"

The circle traditionally symbolizes heaven, infinity, harmony and perfection. Working with a circle requires special skill fr om the artist, as the lines must harmoniously fit into the curved shape.
shape, avoiding the feeling of objects "falling out" from the center of the work. In addition, the format acts as a kind of allegory of the gallery's "circle of authors", as well as a porthole, lens or telescope through which artists see modernity. That is why the artists of our gallery (as well as the authors who are collaborating with FINEART GALLERY for the first time) were invited to work with an interesting form — tondo (from Italian. *tondo* — round).

What does the world look like today?

We can safely say that we live in the era of infodemia. Society is drowning in a flood of signs (news, memes, images), and our main task is not to consume them, but to filter and decrypt them. An era has arrived in which everything is a sign, a symbol, a code that needs to be deciphered.

Each of the participants of the exhibition thinks about the meaning of the sign in their own individual way. Not just a forbidding or permissive sign, but a sign that conveys mystery and hidden meaning. This exhibition demonstrates a variety of such reflections — philosophical and literary, revealing deep trends and current trends of the era, the secret signs of ornaments and symbols.

Without claiming to be a definitive and complete encyclopedic dictionary of signs and symbols, through cultural markers — language, fashion, art — artists consider the historical and cultural context, interpreting events, phenomena or artifacts that symbolize our era, its values, conflicts and transitional states.

The project participants also record social and technological changes, as the signs of the times reflect social shifts, such as total digitalization: smartphones, social networks, artificial intelligence, new forms of communication, and the brevity of visual content.

"Signs of the Times" is not just a statement of facts, but an interpretation that requires critical thinking and a broad view. They help us understand wh ere the world is heading and understand our place in these changes. Ultimately, the ability to see and understand these signs is the key to adapting and acting meaningfully in a rapidly changing world.

We live in a "hyper-semiotic" reality. Everything around you is not just objects or actions, but messages. The viewer is free to choose which of these aspects interests him more. Perhaps everyone has their own example of a "time sign" that was left out of the project.

However, with some caution, we can say that "signs" are the diagnosis of our era: we have moved from the world of things to the world of meanings, and our reality is now endless, complex, often
 a contradictory text that we have to write and read at the same time.