Escapism often carries with it a negative connotation, as if those who partake in it are dreamers, lost and afloat. But what if we were to embrace it, turn it around, and reimagine our relationship with escapism?

One Escape at a Time is inspired by ideas of escapism, especially in the context of the current popular media landscape.

The US sitcom One Day at a Time (2017–20), first produced and made available for streaming worldwide by Netflix, is a contemporary update of the 1970s sitcom of the same name. It charts the life of a three-generation Cuban American family sharing the same roof in Los Angeles. Despite its seemingly conventional format, the sitcom flips the norms of media representation and disguises its central concerns with laughter while tackling some of the most urgent and human questions today: racism, gender, class, sexuality, identity, migration, gentrification, and violence, among others.

Programs and other media like One Day at a Time that utilize escapism as a conduit for engaging or confronting sociopolitical subject matter are a key starting point for the Biennale. Their tactics make it possible for us to reconsider our perceptions of escapism, which in turn may enable us to better reflect on and navigate our fractured and troubling world.

In light of the current global Covid-19 pandemic and widespread lockdown measures, escapism has become all the more symbolic and relevant. It is still too soon for any of us to fully understand the pandemic’s lasting impact, but we all feel its immediate effects. Even as the isolation of millions in their own homes has brought about a mass appetite for forms of micro-escape, many people have mobilized on the streets to take a stand against racial and social injustices over the past year. In this new and confusing reality, perhaps we need to go beyond the proposition of simply embracing escapism. Rather, we can utilize it as a critical mechanism for confronting and connecting with the world we live in.