Aura

MILENA KOROLCZUK, MARTA MARIAŃSKA, PAWEŁ MATYSZEWSKI

Opening: 25.05.2012, opening hour: 18.00

Open until: 28.05.2012

Primal Alchemy
fragments of a text by Iza Tarasewicz

All presented works concern the domination of the sense of sight. Choosing it as the main means of contacting with the audience, the artists invite the viewer to cross over to the other side, where the light is dim, the outlines are blurred and we begin to question the real structure of what we see. This world is dominated by the illusion that we can see, hear, feel and touch. And therefore, that we can win, struggle, suffer, loose, love, fight. In “Aura” “The Body” is subject to a test as both a physical object and as a spiritual element. Objective physical phenomena (facts) and images (interpretations) are confronted with memory. (…)

Marta Mariańska’s strategy is cunning and seducing. It can lure us into the night. We may discover that the darkness we encounter there is not of the danse macabre type. It has more in common with the twist ending commonly used in film and television to surprise the viewer with an unexpected turn of events. Just think what it is about. About a forest? A moon? Light? Pulsation? Transformation? Penetration? Illusion? Is it really? Maybe it talks about all those things. Is it possible to discuss them together? Marta’s intention was to generate a subtle motion that everything has a potential of being extraordinary and beautiful. At the same time, however, the artist interferes with the aesthetic concept of beauty. Rather than to admire the piece of art as an aesthetic product, she encourages us to develop an emotional relationship with it. According to her, art is about something bigger, something limitless. Weary of presenting images in a scale of 1:1, she is trying to redefine the natural by stripping the object of her art of its traditionally recognised image. However, despite the “editing” the image still bears a resemblance to its organic original and leaves us torn between what’s known and what’s undiscovered. The sensation we get watching those works is similar to the one evoked by Kirlian photographs or the ultrasound images of our inner organs. Mariańska transforms romantic images of “The Moon” and “The Forest” by means of technology.

We cannot escape references to atmospheric conditions; constantly changing, surprising, and incredibly intriguing. The forces of nature bring about certain paradigms and evoke atavistic longings. Paweł Matyszewski expresses them in his presentation, asking what could happen if linear human memory got infected with a virus that would affect the workings of the schematic system; some kind of a memory disorder or a sudden change of the rules of the game, a new perspective. Like when you decide to move the old wardrobe and discover a fragment of old floor not affected by the usual wear and tear. In a split second we seem to go back in time and have the pleasure of contacting our ancestors. Matyszewski ravages the subject of space, time and memory. His “Doorstep”, an object being an integral part of the gallery’s architecture, provokes in visitors a physical reaction to the stimulus; it is an obstacle, which influences the mobility within the space. We are fooled by an illusion of making a step, we hear the echo of making a step. Similarly, in his painting series entitled “Echo” Paweł enters the sphere of structural analysis of different places and phenomena. (…)

Milena Korolczuk plays a clever game with the recipients of her art. In the work entitled “The Line is a Line”, the artist balances on a thin line between presenting (a verb, in progress) and the presented (object). She was inspired by a poem by Charles Bukowski “Alone with Everybody”, in which she found signposts useful on the road to uniting body with soul. It was a cunning move to use a mathematical abstract as the subject of her short film. As the definition reads, a line is, an infinitely-extending one-dimensional figure that is not limited from either side. From the formal side the work resembles an animation made from threads. Somewhere at the edge of a table we witness a simple situation – threads governed by pure chance weave into chaotic configurations. At some point their come together make up/create clear outline of figures, only to untangle and go back to the starting point – an empty space. Milena concentrates on the process. The performance is an important element of this short film. It takes place, overlaps, finishes, begins, seems. We hope to receive a clear message, that at the end of the animation the author will reveal the secret. (…)