Warsaw, "Dreamatorium" pop up space installation, 2017
link to the project



The concept of tradition going beyond our association with the stable, peaceful and cosy home, revealing a subcutaneous tendency to  instability and absurdity. “Dreamatorium”  combines the concept of nostalgia for old times with a current fear of impending doom and offers a soothing feeling of familiarity amidst the prevailing ghostly presence- absence.

The overwhelming dissonance of red Soviet carpets and repeatable, marble-like red meat pattern resembles a womb and leads us into intoxicating state of “comfortable claustrophobia”  while faint heartbeat  mixed layered with infrasound fills up the space. Infrasound has been used as a non-lethal warfare tool since the WW I. Certain infrasonic frequencies plug straight into the algorithms of the brain and nervous system. Frequencies of 7 hertz, for example, coincide with theta rhythms inducing moods of fear, anxiety and anger.
It also causes vibration of the eyeballs (and other soft tissues within the body)  causing interference with the visual perception of the eye itself. As a results we begin to see things that just aren’t there.
The installation targets society clinging to lost securities of tradition and nostalgia.


. Meat has a very symbolic history in Polish culture and it is used here as a representation of security in a country ruled by terror of Communist Government. Rationed food meant meat shortages. In the 1980s, even nutria meat (leftovers from furproduction) was included in the diet. Meat turned into currency and was often used as a bribe, payment or gift. It was a synonym for security in a country dominated by empty shops and hunger. After the defeat of Germany in the WWII Poland remained more of a concept than a reality-controlled by Soviet Party and with borders already somewhat indeterminate. In the end, the United Kingdom and the U.S. agreed to the Soviet Union's plans to annex the eastern territories of Poland to the Soviet Union, and in recompense, Poland received parts of German territories. The Polish people had no voice in the discussions about the faith or choice of the government of their country. As the closest state to the Soviet Union and well within the U.S. and U.K.-recognized Soviet sphere of influence, Poland stood little chance of gaining complete control over its own affairs after WWII.Communist Poland was an unfulfilled Utopia created in order to obtain a predictable, optimised and controllable society. The reality was terrifying. The experiment went horribly wrong, generating a chaotic world of absurdity soaked with insane terror created by the ‘Impeccable Authorities’ and the recollection of recent wars. Nothing made any sense, but any criticism was too risky to be attempted.Current state of affairs in Poland are the long term result of a post-war conflict. Current government, corrupted and lawless, followed the steps of Soviet Government ensuring its power by changing entire jurisdiction and police forces resulting in recent protests and new wave of fashism and neo-communism.


                          

  Personalised womb with a Soviet carpet", 2017-mixed media art / space installation






                                      “Personalised  womb with a Soviet carpet",  2017-mixed media art / space installation


                           
                                                          “Meat Shrine” - mixed media installation, 2017


Meat as a symbol of security in the communist era ( and nowadays as a symbol of consumerism) has raised to the representation of an icon. Its power rooted in a long-term social tradition cultivated for generations.

      
                                         
                                 “Matka Boska Mortadelowa”, 2017, mixed media art / space installation


                                        
“Lans za dewizy”, 2017, c-print