systeMY / systemUS

This is just a short pre-posting in way of a form of advertising. On Friday 20th at 18.00 in Lódź is the grand opening of the much awaited systeMY / systemUS exhibition at Lódź Culture House's 'Galeria Imaginarium' (ul. Traugutta 18).

The exhibition is curated by Mariusz Sołtysik and features four American artists, one Irish artist and one Polish artist. Importantly for me, the Polish one is me wife Ela Wysakowsk-Walters (see Pocket Dictator) hence my pre-posting.

I will of course post a full report after the opening. The exhibition will be open for a further month and so please take the time out to take a look :)

Pocket Dictator

Post-Conflict Video

If you have any megalomaniac tendencies, then marriage to an artist will perhaps allow you to fulfil your evil desires. I am in fact married to an artist and thus my delusions of world conquest were more than catered for in my wife's latest project :)

The following exhibition review is by no means an objective and unbiased account of a contemporary Polish artist; in fact its a more than prejudiced review as I was the principle protagonist in the work. Therefore please read on in the light of the fact that I am 100% behind this work and in fact was to some extent a collaborator in its making. 

Pocket Dictator

The work has the title of Pocket Dictator and was created by Elzbieta Wysakowska-Walters, an MA student at Poznan University of Fine Art (Formerly Poznan Fine Art Academy). The work is however two works which share a theme. One is centred around the concept of the modus operandi of dictatorships and how infact many of the discerning features of dictatorships can be seen in pluralists democracies whilst also the close relationship of dictatorships and democracies is high-lighted. Two separate pieces illustrate this point: firstly a video featuring myself referring to the main points in an accompanying essay I wrote showing how the art of spin-doctors and sound-bites can in fact be compared to passages of Hitler's Mein Kampf. The other piece is a mobile phone with a ring tone and SMS message tone which is the voice of a dictator. The ring tone is a roaring political speech akin to the Nuremberg Rally, whilst the text message thanks the external donator for the money given. This dual nature of dictators is referred to in the video ad essay where dictators are often supported by outside forces: often democracies. 

The Meeting Point: Pocket Dictator & The Conflict Book

The second part of the work consists of a conflict book and accompanying video. Both works aim at showing the cyclic nature of conflict and as such the relationship conflict has with people. The video discusses the post-conflict situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the somewhat  bizarre relations the International Community had with the region. 

 

Bio-Rhythm of Conflict

The Conflict Book

The work was displayed at the Kaiser's Palace in Poznan during in the week of the 7th March 2011. This short time will hopefully be more than made up for in a future exhibition; details of which are to follow.

Democracy and Dictators

A full exposé will appear on a work related website created by my wife and so details will follow.