”iCONSTITUTION”

in the frame of ”Basic law” exhibition and Jozef Szajna Multimedia Festival and Forum of New Theater, Theater of Wanda Siemaszkowa in Rzeszow, Poland, 2015 / 2016
artist (idea): Mariusz Sołtysik
programmer: Justyna Zajączkowska

On October 25th, 2015 was opened group exhibition entitled “Basic Law” which was refer to the Constitution of Republic of Poland from 1997 year. By reason of the pre-election silence, all art works in this show couldn’t contain direct political references. On this day was election day.
The basic idea of my work was to play the game with the viewer and develop a reflection about the own knowledge of the Constitution. Because I made video in form of a Table of Ophthalmology to sight-testing, where each letter was moving in constantly loop, the viewer was confused. Only last letter line on this table showed static word: ”iConstitution”. To see and be sure, each viewer had to approach to the screen. Then, as the viewer approached — the image is losing focus.

This refer to the concept of entropy (which measures the degree of disorder of a system also in the context of information theory). The difficulty of the choice of site by the viewer and of the read the text a cause the confusion or superficial knowledge of the subject (the text of the Constitution) or continuous feeling of dissatisfaction, so characteristic of our societies. I created my own word ”iConstitution” relate to the popular electronic brand.
Few moths later we (with Justyna, who is the programmer) made new version of my idea. New „Table of Ophthalmology” could refer to any normative and democratic acts. Probably citizens of EU don’t know enough about of law and constitution from their own countries. This ignorance is a cause of misunderstanding and a field of action for populists who spread false information.

My project aims to show that the law is on our side. His ignorance is the cause of misunderstandings. In my homeland, people who fought against the communist regime before 1989 are today offended and wrongfully blamed. Thanks to them, the younger politicians who came to power can and are in the EU parliament. They benefit from the rights of the EU. However, they themselves call for division and separation. They aren’t understand that it is better to argue at the table than in the trenches.

Technique: computer, video, IR camera (kinect)

Curator: Bogdan Achimescu / Artists: Patrycja Maksylewicz, Bogdan Achimescu, Mariusz Front, Mariusz Sołtysik, Marcel Urban, Maciej Gniady,