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F.O.F. Master Thesis
2023 – bluescreen
Fight or Flight
[v. 1.0]
June 22 – 30, 2023
at United Climbing,
Poznań PL
Description
What is “F.O.F”?
Fight or Flight describes the complex survival reaction of living organisms, commonly known as adrenaline. The exhibition presents an analysis of this process not only from a biological point of view but also from an economic and cultural perspective. Installations are placed between the walls of the United Climbing space. Although minimalist in form, they abound in confrontations with extensive visions of the future of humanity, such as those presented by Leszek Kołakowski or John Danaher. Created with modern machines such as 3D milling and 3D printers, as well as various AI models and smartphones, these installations embody the characteristic hope for a better tomorrow. What else are the bodies of people playing with climbing problems, lying on sun-warmed mats amidst the industrial halls of WSK, if not a longed for perfect world? This experiment combines two different subcultures without aiming to achieve any specific results.
Event
Various forms of activities that we love, which make us human, have been performed since the “beginning.” Over time, this process takes different forms influenced by economic and cultural desires. However, one thing remains unchanged: the need for effort. There is no satisfaction without effort, just as there is no perfection without imperfections. Dive into the corridors of United Climbing to engage not only your physical strength but also creativity, patience, and observation.
Freef-codes
The event was designed with the aim of obtaining access codes to Freef application which will be launched in the future. You can acquire the codes by following the instructions attached to some of the works. After filling out the form on the computer located in the bouldering area, the database registers how each specific code was obtained. Each code, along with the email address, can only be used once.
Freef
It is a concept of a free mobile platform hosting immersive user experiences designed by artists. We aim to make art accessible everywhere, whether you’re at home on your couch, in the forest, in the mountains, or by the river.
Making someone’s vision a reality can be challenging, but we are determined to do just that. Our goal is to provide a platform where the only limit is the imagination.
To read more visit Freef Page.
Works
Guided Tours
Guided walks and climbing classes for beginners are part of the program. This is an opportunity for visitors to immerse themselves in the stories presented during the event, together with the assistance of instructors and the author.
Gallery
FAQ
What is it about?
There is no right answer. Dive into it, enjoy.
What does it mean 1.0?
Some of these works, as well as the entire event, have been indicated with version numbers, allowing for the collection of old versions, the creation of new ones, and collaboration opportunities.
Why adrenaline?
That’s a good question. As much as I try to focus on global needs, there is still a part of me that reflects my connection to action sports. Therefore, I decided not only to pay respect to it but also to create a concept in which adrenaline could be a source of hope for survival in a utopian world.
Why Nirvana?
During the event, you can find a playlist or on the event page that includes the titles of songs used in Flames of S16 and Nirvana. The name of Kurt Cobain has been referenced by Mark Fisher in “Capitalistic Realism” as an example of how American media adapted rebellion. Here, in Fight or Flight, we are exploring a similar idea. The end of well known Contemporary Art is in the air, what’s next, how it transforms? Is it even true?
Was the venue still open during the exhibition?
Yes, the climbing gym was open during the exhibition. It continued to function as usual.
When Freef will go live?
Designing something properly requires time and effort. Currently, my focus is on gathering feedback and creating initial works that can be shared within the platform. Please register and await early access. Stay tuned! Register your code here.
How to obtain Freef codes?
During designed periods. Follow @jakubkanna or signup for newsletter on the bottom of the page to stay up to date.
I feel like it’s just a teaser, is it good?
Yes, it’s just an introduction. However, if you’re curious, you can take a look at the F.O.F. Master Thesis by clicking on the link below.
Further reading
Credits
Organizer: @totoszka, Route setting: @misha.setting, Mentor: @intermedia_uap, Technical consultants: Andre Freiha, @kubamatuszczak, Assembly: @patryk.szczesiak, Ruth Müller, Freef narrator: @velvetm0ld_, Brochure design: @konelria, Documentation from the opening by courtesy of: @maja.szewczyk, @kamila.lukaszczyk
Flames of S16 v.1.1
Journal I – DJ ALEPH – DRONES OVER ANTARCTICA
17:16, the twenty-fourth day of January, 2022, Ládví, Prague.
Yesterday, on my way to the store, I learned that Prague has a very similar level of sunlight as the United Kingdom. I believed it without hesitation; you can strongly feel it here. On the concrete sidewalk surrounded by a post-socialist view, one of my shoes, soaked in black melted snow (only on the outside, inside is protected by a Gore-Tex layer), came up with an idea. Why shouldn’t we try to break this monotonous art/world grayness? Are we satisfied enough with the state of reality to accept it? Why do we, as creators of the current 21st-century reality, have the audacity to expect a guarantee of balanced survival? The time of being bored with boredom has finally come. It’s time to create the possibility of fulfillment for the many expectations built by contemporary art/world1!!!!!!!!! (A term describing both the concept of the world and art. It assumes that they constitute an integral whole) – HEY! WAKE UP! HEY! WAKE UP! HEY! WAKE UP! HEY! WAKE UP! HEY! WAKE UP! HEY! WAKE UP! – a robotic sound of TeamSpeak, saturated with the rhythmic pounding of DJ ALEPH’s track – DRONES OVER ANTARCTICA. – Apparently, one of my friends is demanding, in a way filled with “playfulness” (playfulness combined with mischief tolerated by both sides), a return to playing CS 1.6. In the course of all these thoughts, I no longer know “where to put my hands” together with you, and if all of this is really necessary “for real.”
Journal II – Blue Hour – Midnight Sun (Dj Ibons Never Mind Mix) [BLUEHOURMXSPL001]
23:26, the ninth day of February, 2023, Wilda, Poznań.
The Wi-Fi doesn’t work well in the bedroom, so I have to move to another room to continue writing in Google Docs. I turned off the light to avoid paranormal numbers on the bill and walked through the dark kitchen to the living room, holding the laptop in my arms like a child. But before I sat down (yes, I know, I overuse the word “however”) on the writing chair, covered in shadows, I looked out the window with a gaze seeking help. A playground. A swing. It’s moving. There’s no child on it anymore. I’ve seen him before. How old can that guy be, 16? What is he doing? Swinging. Dynamically and rhythmically. A full swing sequence lasts about 3 seconds. The maximum height threshold he reaches is within the norm but closer to its limit. I’m not sure if it’s nervousness or rather joy. It’s quite late and too cold to be swinging. So there must be some motivation driving him. Alright. I don’t think he has got an easy life. Hmm. What if this swinging could take on a creative form? Later, more than just creative. From a problem to creation. Wait, what if he doesn’t have a problem and he’s just there to practice swinging? I don’t see a swing suit, so is it even swinging? What if swinging is something for him that I don’t actually know about? I don’t want to know. It’s his swing now. I’ll just silently cheer for him.
Journal III – SPLASHH – All I Wanna Do
13:13, thirteenth day of September, 2013, somewhere in the forest, Stary Gieląd.
I don’t have anything interesting to share in this part. You can skip it if you want. You can also keep reading; I don’t know what sentence I’ll write next. I didn’t do any research. I no longer find personal confessions interesting. I didn’t create a nice documentation. I won’t write an interesting biography. I won’t write a description. I won’t protest. I won’t call it Untitled. I won’t learn anything new. I won’t try to change anything. I didn’t plan anything. I won’t introduce myself. I don’t care about networking, nor diving. I won’t sell this. I won’t be controversial. You won’t see a nice object on a white background either. I won’t do a good job. I like climbing, so might go. I won’t continue writing this any longer; I’ll let GPT handle it: “Sure, I can do that. Here’s a sentence for you: GPT is a powerful tool for generating human-like language, and it has been used in a wide range of applications, from chatbots and virtual assistants to creative writing and academic research.” Okay… I’ll resign from using GPT… I won’t call myself an artist, nor call this discourse art. I won’t call it postmodernism. I’ll call it trivialism. Isn’t life as a human trivial? Fragile, falling in love, sniffing… – I have to censor this because it will be included in my master’s thesis. – Dancing to the sunrise, driven by dreams, trying to survive, adapting to the economic system we currently live in. Making mistakes. Listening to surf rock, not techno. Forced to pretend that what he created is something more than it really is. Answering his parents’ questions about the future, which may change after a head-on collision with an oncoming car in the shape of a smiling hot dog. All to get to work, which in 20 years could be done casually, with a touch of something that replaces the mouse. Sitting in a comfortable metal box with four wheels, abusing the horn, which was designed as a signal of danger, not discharged anger. Abusing the word “art,” which no longer means anything. A human who exploded like a tire of an overloaded Nutella transport truck. Classic.
STRESS TEST
2022
Absence of Protagonists
Jakub Kanna, Julia Walkowiak, Julia Woronowicz, Laura Radzewicz, Mari Ferrario, Miłosz Rygiel-Sańko, Wojtek Nika i Xu Yang
artistic mentor: Iza Trasewicz
5.07–2.09.2022, galeria SKALA Święty Marcin 49a, Poznań
The exhibition ‘Absence of Protagonists’ is a result of a students workshop by the guest studio, led in 2021/22 by Iza Tarasewicz at the Intermedia Department of the Poznań University of Arts.
“Unhappy the land that needs heroes”
– Bertolt Brecht, “The Life of Galileo” (1939) sc. 13
In traditional western narratives, the reader is encouraged to identify with a singular protagonist, a hero defined by agency, free will, and psychological depth, who undergoes an evolution and resolves problems as the story progresses from beginning, middle, and end. Our world today can be characterized as one of continuous crisis and uncertainty, from the COVID pandemic to increasing environmental collapse, from war in Ukraine and elsewhere to the ongoing physical and symbolic violence brought about through the intersection of economic, geopolitical, gendered, sexual, and racial injustice. Given this crisis, there is a tendency to look for new heroes who would simply save us from the problems of today. Yet it is precisely this heroic “monomyth”, the idea that all problems are personal and they’re all solvable by a singular, dramatic individual, that has distracted us from the possibility of deeper, broader change or of holding accountable the powerful who create and benefit from the status quo and its myriad forms of harm. The artists in the exhibition “Absence of Protagonists” contest these simplified conceptions of identity and agency, addressing feelings of disillusionment, confusion, and disharmony to destabilize the fantasies of a singular saviour and its imbrication in the harmful myths of our contemporary era. The systems that we struggle against in the contemporary world, that MUST be struggled against, will not be brought down by a lone hero. Refusing to be seduced by toxic subjectivities and the lure of personality, these artists use a variety of media and formal strategies to make visible and confront the problems of today, and to imagine new narrative forms and ways of living and being in our time of chaos. The very absence of protagonists, antagonists, and simple plots curiously brings the individuals to the forefront, displaying the intricate complexity, mundanity, and subjectivity that make us all who we are.
– Post Brothers
Velo-art
Description
The prefix velo has been adopted from the word velocipede. Today it is often used as a collective mark of various types of circumstances linked to the vehicles with one and more wheels powered by muscles.
Bicycles started to appear in the history of art a long time ago. We can find them in the works of artists such as: Marcel Duchamp (Bicycle Wheel), Robert Rauchenberg (Riding Bikes), William De Koonig (Woman and Bicycle), Ai Wei Wei (Forever Bicycles), Bas Jan Adler (Fall II), Natalia Gonczarova (Cyclist), Guido van der Werve (Nummer veertien) and others.
Velo-art is about all creative activities that use or relate to the world of bicycles. It is above all the freedom given by the two wheels. Simplicity. Integration with the surrounding space, natural or unnatural, through direct experience of speed, distance, adrenaline, movement, effort, new places, emotions, people, love to bicycle etc. Simple relation between bike, art and human.
Therefore it confronts with the world of definitions. It’s another description, the presence of which is beautiful but doubtfully necessary. It balances on the edge of emptiness and excessive limitations. Thus where is the place for freedom in the world where the tiniest thing has been defined or on the another hand what would a zebra crossing with no straps be? No one ever said that art has to challenge the world through seriousness. It unfortunately leads to the definition of contemporary art; for example – the Bicycle Wheel designer – M. Duchamp’s „If I Call It Art, It’s Art”. Does it seem to keep us in a single place for years now or it allows us to breath the way we want to? How can you evolve something that is everything?
Works
Residency program
Coming soon.
