In between a cute ripple of desire

“Oh, that’s cute!” we exclaim with high-pitch voices at the encounter of someone or something that produces in us an extreme feeling of empathy and tenderness. This specific kind of empathy that can be related to the Spanish phrase “me lo como a besos”, meaning I will eat you up with kisses. Cuteness has the power to instantly disarm us as there is no doubt in our mind about what  is cute and what isn’t.

In the exhibition In between a cute ripple of desire artist-in-residence Azul De Monte questions the concept of cuteness. Who and what do we define as cute? What power dynamics are enforced within our society when we find someone or something cute? And how does this process of cutiefication play into our capitalist consumption culture? So immerse yourself in a De Monte’s art in which you’ll meet a toy-worm, be greeted by jingles and pop-beats, and see some hentai-based animation. 

Azul De Monte is visual and performing artist from Argentina based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Her art practice is currently focused on researching cuteness and the reductions and potentialities around the representation of human and non-human bodies under a capitalist time-structure of linearity. She uses different media such as video-animation, performance and alternative comic book publications. She has been developing her work in Argentina where she participated in several exhibitions. She studied Image and Sound Design at Universidad of Buenos Aires (2015) and participated in the Artists Program at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella (2017). She has recently finished her master studies at the Dutch Art Institute (2019-2021).

In between a cute ripple of desire is the second part of Nieuwe Vide’s research project All that you touch, you change.