The term ‘realism’ appeared in the second half of the 19th century. Nevertheless, the phenomenon of realistic representation has been present throughout art history. In popular perception, ‘good art’ is a faithful representation of reality. This is not, however, what artists consider the most important. Artists fine-tune the sensitivity of real images, using it to create their own language; they soften or brutalise them, blurring or deforming the figures; they introduce touches of absurdity, exaggerate and manipulate expressions and make colours unrealistic. In their works they comment on our perception of reality in the era we are living in, with their accompanying mood, dreams and aberrations. The 20th century proved very instructive, progressing through cubism, abstract and geometric art, and introducing collage, video and computer techniques. The contemporary works presented in this new exhibition at MOCAK employ realistic language to address everything that matters in today’s world.