上海｜费迪南德・德尔伯格：疑问胜于答案，未尽然。

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 “words” 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?

Ferdinand Dölberg, We are still searching for the sentences,(2025)

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.

德尔伯格巧妙借用社会主义现实主义的视觉语法 —— 宏大的集体场景、充满动感的生产构图、被英雄化的劳动者形象 —— 但他真正的创作媒介，实则是语言与视觉符号的双重体系。展览中的每件作品标题都构成独立的观念艺术表达：“你所见即你所思，你所读即你所愿理解”“剪刀剪断了词语”“我们仍在寻找完整的句子”“我们需要你，你需要他，无人需要我们”。这些标题如同哲学谜题，又似对系统失效的隐喻，与画面中被解构的字体、碎片化的视觉元素形成张力，反复叩问：我们看到的是真实本身，还是被自身偏见与外部强加的叙事所过滤后的幻象？

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?

「疑问胜于答案？未尽然」试图揭示一个核心真相：语言远非中立的交流工具，字体与视觉符号也绝非纯粹的信息载体 —— 它们共同构成了塑造现实、生产意义的社会装置。德尔伯格通过剪断词语、打乱句法、解构字体秩序，将这一隐性系统推向台前：当 “荣耀”“集体”“进步” 等宏大词汇在重复中丧失原初所指，当 “我们” 与 “你” 的关系逻辑陷入悖论，语言与视觉符号体系固有的空洞与暴力便无所遁形。

这场展览既是一场视觉盛宴，更是一次深刻的智力挑战：它追问我们如何被语言与视觉符号塑造，也邀请我们思考如何从其桎梏中觉醒。EY PROJECTS 诚挚邀请您莅临开幕现场，走进德尔伯格构建的词语、图像与权力的探索空间，在疑问与答案的辩证中，重新审视自身与世界的联结。

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.