'Interpretations of the Exhibition' Conference with Françoise Vergès
17 September 2026 · 19:00
Centre d'Arts Santa Mònica, el Raval, Ciutat Vella
In this session, Françoise Vergès will offer her own reading of L'assalt de la il·lusió, connecting the works, mechanisms and representational strategies articulated by the exhibition with the central debates in her field of research and practice. In January 1964, psychoanalyst Octave Mannoni published an article in Les Temps Modernes in which he dissected the familiar expression “I know, but still...”, placing it at the centre of specific questions around the “denial of reality”. In the current context of the genocide in Palestine, imperialist wars, climate disasters and the intensification of global counter-revolution, Françoise Vergès will argue why a reappropriation of the dynamics of illusion-building does not seem possible, or why knowing that the museum is a fabricator of illusions does not diminish its power. The readings linked to the conference also form part of (crear) Situacions #10, Santa Mònica's collective learning and research programme, which critically analyses how cultural devices construct illusions that shape our desire and our idea of reality. This proposal forms part of the exhibition's public programme, which under the title Interpretacions de l'exposició…
Part of the programme: Estiu als Museus. 21 activities in Barcelona, from February 26 to September 30.
Source: Ajuntament de Barcelona · checked on 8 September 2026