The theme of the second RESONANCES exhibition (*) was : fairness. The designer of the exhibition gave it the name FAIR/FEAR: two words, two sentiments that can easily transform into one another, depending on the situation.

From the exhibition’s catalogue: ”Too many people are angry. Too many people perceive society as unfair. The failures and excesses of today’s economies continue to lead to social and environmental degradation.

More than one third of the young adults in Southern Europe remain without a job, and people die in multi-story buildings because safety regulations were deemed too expensive. Nature reserves and holy lands are sacrificed for greed and profit. The last natural forest in Europe is being given away to industrial activities. People go hungry in one part of the world, while food is wasted and thrown away in others. The richer countries have played the greatest role in causing climate change but it is in the poorer ones where the impacts are suffered most. ... Masses of civilians suffer the consequences of wars that are started by a few. Terror hits the innocent and leaves everybody wounded.

People’s anger is easily turned into fear by populists ready to find scapegoats for things gone wrong. Leaders challenge values that were taken for granted. Democracy is under pressure. Thinking global and acting local has been replaced by simply thinking local. The world seems to be in turmoil.”

(*) RESONANCES was a series of exhibitions organized by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission to try and communicate about an important issue It mixes the languages of science, art and politics.

RESONANCES I (Milan, October 2015), FOOD, was about food. RESONANCES II (Milan, Oct. 2017), FAIR/FEAR, was about fairness. RESONANCES III (Brussels, Dec. 2019), DATAMI, was about big data and artificial intelligence.