"NO USE" Exhibition 2023
Magdalena Modrić Magdalena Modrić
1.9K subscribers
114 views
0

 Published On Aug 15, 2023

Not so long ago, I posted a video of the process of making first couple of tools. It was quite slow and with time I had to speed up as the date of the exhibition was coming. I exhibited over 300 pieces of tools, most of which is composed into a seemingly floating bed of fragile, white casts of tools. Here is a video filmed in the gallery two months ago.

More about the work (mostly translated by Google):
"NO USE"

Reviewing my everyday life, I noticed several interrelationships, of which the relationship between rest and work plays a special role. Work is a phenomenon that evolved with civilization, and while in the very beginnings it was a mere division of duties in primitive communities, and in great old civilizations it was glorified as a ritual, existentialism condemned it and assigned it the role of a disease that erodes the human spirit and destroys the body .

One of the more famous novels that we had the chance to encounter while still in school is Kafka's "The Metamorphosis", in which the protagonist, a man who works hard to feed his family, wakes up transformed into an insect. In his everyday life, Gregor renounces his desires and needs by immersing himself in the hustle and bustle of capitalist society early every morning, and this force pulls his "spirit" out of his body and he wakes up as a hyperreal version of himself - that is, as an insect that works without complaint in order to produce or sell goods that someone else will consume. Although times have changed a little and the growth in the sphere of the third production sector has somehow forced workers today to "socialize" in the working environment and choose their working hours, the result is again negative; this "socialization" is only an imposed choice, and working hours through such freedom of choice exceed eight hours. Nevertheless, the work primarily reflects my interpretation of Baudrillard's idea from "Simulacrums and Simulation" and de Saussure's theory of signs through an installation inspired by my own experience from a short period of my life.

Based on the same, it was not meaningful to model the tools, but for each piece a clay mold of a real tool was made - which can cut, with which it can be struck (...) - the mold takes over the forms, details of the individual tool - but the plaster cast does not have the functions that the original can perform – no longer has the benefit of the tool from which it takes its form. However - in tradition, clay is the material from which the model is made, and plaster is the material from which the mold is made - and their roles are reversed, so it is difficult to say that the real tool is the "original" of plaster casts - they are not "statues", but are only a copy of a copy, but not a reproduction. Each tool in itself is a simulation whose original can no longer be found (because the clay mold is destroyed), and this series of simulations that intertwine on the elevated surface in the gallery space form an uncomfortable "mattress" that forces a person to get up and continue working.

The bed, which should provide comfort and rest, becomes a symbol of the cycle of work that never stops or rests - there is no longer any use in trying to look for rest, because the bed no longer provides sound sleep, it is uncomfortable and as such can result in a sleepless night full of questioning; is there any benefit or sense in doing what we do and can only hard work justify this choice of "job"? Ultimately, the bed was made in dimensions slightly smaller than a single bed in order to communicate with the observer on a more intimate level, talking about the experiences and problems of the individual, reminding him of his own struggles against fatigue and the overwhelming social pressures he copes with alone, on "limited space".


The bed is placed in the middle of the room and imitates the apparition of a bed from the perspective of an exhausted observer - and the installation is accompanied by several smaller works, which hang like notes, work schedules and obligations - marked with a "tool symbol". These notes, which are indicated on the walls like hieroglyphs, are only part of a mirage that is shown to the observer through symbols, and in such an environment there is no hint of sleep, but only the floating idea of ​​a rest that is unattainable.

Long before the moment when the idea for this installation arose, I looked at work as a ritual, in which the process is the most important part that teaches us and provides a kind of pleasure from the action itself. The idea and the need to realize this work arose in completely different circumstances.

In the end, the process itself faithfully followed the idea of ​​the work - the work required more time than initially estimated, and could not be made easier in any way.

--- MORE IN COMMENT

You may find more on my instagram @magdalenamod or on my website
https://magkip.wixsite.com/magdalenam...

show more

Share/Embed