Pattern, fabric, thread. Art vs. Design? vol. 2
Piotr Bosacki, Iwona Demko, Monika Drożyńska, Aneta Grzeszykowska, Dominik Lejman, Małgorzata Markiewicz, Magdalena Samborska, Janek Simon, Julita Wójcik
27.08-19.09.2015
Kuratorki: Agnieszka Kulazińska – Grobis, Aleksandra Księżopolska
Titanikas Galleries of the Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts
The Pattern, fabric, thread exhibition presents pieces created by Polish artists whose work is situated between art and artistic fabric. Weave, which is one of the elements defining artistic fabrics, has become the centre of artistic reflection. What purpose does it serve in the fabric? Within the traditional meaning, it builds a rhythmical pattern and creates the decorative character of the work. But can the fabric deconstruct the pattern? What will happen if we expand our scope of interest? Is the pattern strong enough to reveal schemes hidden underneath the decorative structure?
Pattern is a term with a rather broad meaning spectrum, used in various walks of life. Superficially, it may be understood as a motif or easily reproducible template. In modern art, the search for a universal canon was deemed key to finding beauty. In scientific disciplines, a scheme generalises and organises our knowledge about the world. Translating information into the language of symbols and codes, it creates a graphic visualisation of an invisible structure.
Although not all works presented at the Pattern, fabric, thread exhibition are created using fabrics, they use weave as their compositional and structural basis. The weave may take on the form of video art, photography or a computer game. Ornamentation was used to pose questions that are important for contemporary patterns. Weaving is an activity that is generally associated with the home. However, when it enters the public space, it is powerful enough to ask questions. How is an individual created by society? How does architecture affect our subconsciousness? Have we all fallen prey to fashion? These questions are raised by the presented works.
Pattern, fabric, design is a continuation of the Art vs. Design? exhibition presented in CCA Łaźnia in 2014 and curated by Severija Inčirauskaitė-Kriaunevičienė from the Artifex gallery in Vilnius. Works presented as part of Art vs. Design? balanced between the two areas, forcing us to wonder which of the disciplines we were faced with. Artists invited to take part in the showcase perversely exposed the absurdity of this opposition. The question mark at the end of the title was not accidental. Objects presented at the exhibition could be treated as creative, functionally original design objects, on the other hand – they were alarmingly close to the “uselessness” of a work of art. Can a T-shirt or sweater become a work of art, an object of aesthetic contemplation? What revolutionary meanings can it imply?