”In Flagrante”
first version “CamouFlash” events, photo-installation, Patio Art Centre, Lodz, Poland 2007 / “CamouFlash” event, video-installation, Dresden, Prager Spitze, Germany, 2008 / Mediations Biennale, Poznan, 2008
Being caught in an equivocal situation; or being caught red-handed?The project has been developing since 2006. In the first draft, the viewer could look inside a closed box through a miniature lens to see a picture of the author holding hands with a teddy bear. Since then, the project has gone through two stages.
The project may refer to my family situation – the birth of my daughter, Lena. Unquestionably, it is true, but the whole issue does not only concern the toy, or teddy’s personification in a personal context.
It is , however, an image illustrating the situation we, as society, are in; as well as the way we treat the beautiful stage of our life – our youth. This issue will, sooner or later, concern my daughter as well…
It was beautifully described by Goethe, however, it was Jose Ortega y Gasset who described the situation as ‘youth’s blackmail’. A situation in which all that is rational, or responsible is substituted with or explicated with the youth – something so irresponsible and banal. Therefore, the main concern of my work is to focus on that processes in which our social life becomes banal. I also address the diverse issues such as being caught doing something extremely irresponsible; or seemingly playing along one’s own rules while still following the global system of rules; or accepting the infringement of personal freedom in the name of so called democracy protection; or being indifferent to nature issues, and all of that in the blazing lights of the media. The youth, which has become a fetish to those, who correct their body in unbearable hysteria and fear of adulthood, experience and old age. A young body is perceived as a product, similar in its qualities to products straight from a supermarket. As such, its lifespan is very short (getting shorter and shorter actually), therefore, to get back to the game, it keeps losing its basic meaning and individual features. Just like a product, it has to be a success in our ‘ever young, and festive’ society.
technique: video-animation in loop, two sculptures from resin 20 cm high, for first version: manipulated photography