Can You See Me

Can You See Me? is the closing exhibition of the Carnival Biennale Mask project, unfolding at the conclusion of the 2024 Venice Biennale. The exhibition engages with the themes of this year’s Biennale edition, Foreigners Everywhere, while extending the discourse into the question of visibility and its regulation.

In this exhibition, visibility is not a neutral concept but rather a mechanism of control — a system of inclusion and exclusion. What determines whether a person, an artwork, or even an idea is visible, acknowledged, or recognized as part of the system — and what condemns it to invisibility?

Can You See Me? explores a deeply personal tension: the desire to be seen, acknowledged, and accepted, contrasted with the fear of exposure — of losing control over one’s image, of revealing what is real. Every element of this space is a negotiation between these opposing forces: "I want you to see me — but am I truly ready to be seen?"

The installation itself is built to interrogate these tensions. Pulsating words — CAN YOU SEE. YOU. ME. SEE ME. — shift and reconfigure, refusing to settle into a singular meaning. The instability of language both reveals and conceals, demanding an answer yet offering none.

On the floor, a trace of someone who was here — a human outline. A presence? Or an absence that has taken form? DO NOT CROSS. And yet, you will. This outline serves as a threshold, representing the line between visibility and invisibility, between presence and absence.

Nearby, a mask — a symbol of both concealment and revelation. Whose mask is it? The victim’s? The perpetrator’s? Or the one worn every day? Torn black plastic scattered like a discarded shroud, like a fragmented façade of reality. What was meant to be hidden is now exposed; what was meant to be clear remains unknown.

Can You See Me? is not just the culmination of Carnival Biennale Mask — it marks the opening of a new space for reflection on art and society, where visibility is both a currency and a mechanism of control. Who is allowed to be seen? Who remains outside the frame? What must take on a specific form to be acknowledged?

This exhibition is a personal reflection as much as a collective inquiry. Does the mask protect, or does it isolate? By hiding, do I preserve myself — or do I disappear? And when the mask is removed, what remains? The exhibition invites visitors to engage with these questions through a thoughtful exploration of the systems that govern visibility, identity, and belonging.