Where is happiness hiding in contemporary art? Does it even want to manifest itself or is it meant to be sought, to really make an effort in finding and recognizing it for what it is? Does it make sense, considering the times we live in, to look for, observe and present simple images of happiness or happy images without any other connotations? Without connotations of irony, sarcasm, grotesque, parody, cynicism, in short, without any of the modern day drama so often related to sociopolitical content, trapped in the relentless, mad dance of a consumer culture that seeks happiness through the thrill of shopping. As happiness surfaces and develops by virtue of endless contrasts, it is a construct, acting as a distinctly subjective sensation. Throughout human history, happiness has been in a state of constant flux, no matter the age or the place we encounter it. Author Denis Diderot writes: “Theories of happiness are always only the histories of those who formulate them.” 

Happiness is not something that can be found, attained or ever truly achieved. The right conditions have to be met for it to appear. Its source of origin is equally unstable, since it can come from within or as a result of external events. But it is likely that love and creativity might be the factors most crucial for happiness, since they facilitate communication with others, with nature and with the self.  An active lifestyle and positive frame of mind, joy and understanding, patience and a whole lot more of nice things allow one to form bonds with others and different projects that go beyond normal means or are simply necessary, beautiful and clean. That's when happiness surfaces and affects us, happiness as a set of internal and external circumstances. People are multi-layered, plural, multi-sensual systems, we are subjects composed of body and soul, we are the sites where an infinite multitude of feelings and perceptions erupt, where art is part of the process of comprehension and feeling. Happiness manifests itself in art as a fragment, that tiny bit of beauty that has come to life in our exhibition Fragments of happiness in art at the City Art Gallery Ljubljana, which gives meaning to the act of creation and makes life worth living.