“… the most senseless phenomena, those that appear ridiculous, absurd, or bereft of significance, can, and should be made objects of investigation…. In Freud’s case, this means dreams, slips of the tongue, bungled actions, and neurotic symptoms — the glitches and distortions of mental life.” (Žižek, citing Shuster, 2025)
For us, it is the humble doughnut…. and why not?
“Is the hole in the doughnut part of the doughnut? A bemusing question — at least at first. Because the longer you think about it, the more complex it becomes. Is the answer to be found in the philosophical, psychological, scientific, or mechanical? The humble doughnut, reinterpreted as an Aristotelian snack. Being in relationship with non-being? Doughnut as gooey event horizon, a quantum muse?”
Kim Shaw, Curator of The Doughnut (W)Hole
It has taken me a while to get around to posting about this project, as it has required an enormous amount of time and effort. I also had some website-snagging to attend to following our launch, and perhaps didn’t feel quite ready to share it officially before now. But here it is… And I would love it if you visited.
Artists from around the world endeavour to fill holes, simulate holes, or deep-dive into them on The Doughnut (W)Hole pavilion — all while considering the question raised at the very beginning: Is the hole in the doughnut part of the doughnut? (Shaw, 2025)
(P.S. … of course it is!)
An online exhibition embracing play and joy as acts of resistance, The Doughnut (W)Hole is a pavilion of The Wrong Biennale Nº7, running from November 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026.
Featuring:
Maria Ahmed — Beautiful the Chewed Sounds
Kasper Bergholt — Tracing the Hollow
Evangelia Danadaki — ghosting myself
Sarah Deane — All That Is Solid
Sarah-Jane Field — BHAM💥 – The Black Hole Aesthetic Machine
Alan Knox — The Memory of Deep Blue
David Koh — I haunt myself
Merve Kurtuluş — Wholeness Feels Wrong
Ben Millar Cole — After Wall
Duncan Petrie — To Pigeon-Fill the Sky
Angel Qin — Humanware
Heidi Reece — Dear Uncle Eddy, I Want To Be Defined By A Grapefruit
Sarah Sweeney — My Deepfake Dad
Min Jung Tsai — Welcome to the Past!
Curated by Kim Shaw | Co-produced by Sarah-Jane Field
And if you fancy really diving in, visit our YouTube channel to listen to talks by Dr Jane Boyer on Finitude , with a panel discussion hosted by Gisela Torres, Dr Caroline Molloy on Memory, and Dr Madeline Yale Preston asking what shifts for artists in the age of AI? Each talk is followed by contributions from participating artists.
Huge thanks to all involved! This project could not have happened without everyone’s generosity, kindness and desire to make something good happen.
Look out for future events, including a book club launching soon — our first book will be Carlo Rovelli’s White Holes! (If you’re interested, I wrote a little bit about the book here.)
Refs:
Žižek, S. (2025) Quantum History: A New Materialist Philosophy. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Rovelli, C. (2024) White Holes. London: Allen Lane.
