On 6 January 2026, EY PROJECTS is pleased to announce the first solo exhibition in China of Ferdinand Dölberg (b. 1998, Eisenach, Germany) – entitled Questions are better than answers. Not always. Centering on the artist’s latest series of small-to-medium-scale works, the exhibition takes "language as a vehicle of power and an instrument of discipline" as its core proposition. It delves into how we interpret reality, comprehend labor, and define our identities through the texts bestowed upon us. The exhibition title itself is an inquiry into cognitive inertia: when we take it for granted that "questions are better than answers", have we inadvertently fallen into another form of mental shackle?

 

Posters and typefaces have long played a pivotal role in public communication. With their well-defined structures and uniform forms, they convey a sense of order, modernity, and orientation, serving as the core carriers of visual information – this widely accepted logic of communication is precisely what Dölberg sets out to deconstruct in his practice. In the artist’s works, typefaces are no longer faithful messengers of information; instead, their inherent functional attributes are deliberately disrupted. Typographic elements are either partially obscured by figures and scenes in the paintings, or overlapped and distorted, creating an intense sense of disorientation. Viewers are compelled to confront a fundamental question: What exactly are we trying to decipher? And how does the incompleteness and fragmentation of information reshape our perception of the narrative being presented? This deconstruction of typefaces and visual symbols echoes the artist’s inquiry into the linguistic system, jointly forming the core dimension of exploration for the exhibition.

​​

Dölberg skillfully appropriates the visual grammar of Socialist Realism – monumental collective scenes, dynamic compositions of production, and heroic depictions of laborers – yet his true creative medium lies in the dual system of language and visual symbols. Each work in the exhibition is given a title that functions as an independent conceptual art piece. These titles, like philosophical riddles and metaphors for systemic failure, create a tension with the fragmented typefaces and visual elements in the paintings, repeatedly posing the question: Do we perceive reality as it truly is, or is it a mirage filtered through our own prejudices and externally imposed narratives?​

 

This exhibition seeks to reveal a core truth: language is far from a neutral tool for communication, and typefaces and visual symbols are by no means mere carriers of information – together, they constitute a social apparatus that constructs reality and manufactures meaning. By cutting words, scrambling syntax, and deconstructing typographic order, Dölberg brings this implicit system to the forefront. When words fail to deliver meanings, and when the relational logic between "we" and "you" collapses into paradox, the inherent emptiness and violence of the linguistic and visual symbol systems are laid bare for all to see.

​​

More than a visual feast, this exhibition is a profound intellectual challenge: it interrogates how we are shaped by language and visual symbols, and invites us to reflect on how we might awaken from their constraints.