A car, a pylon, a ticket, a traffic sign, red and green traffic light signals: the objects in the exhibition ‘Level Up’ by GAFFA collective are grouped around the theme of cars and traffic.
Everything in the exhibition is a little oversized: The car is almost as long as the exhibition hall, the pylon reaches almost to the ceiling and the parking ticket on the floor would barely fit into a ticket machine. Everything too big, too much, too crowded? The reality is no different: Traffic jams at rush hour, the cars are getting bigger and the roadworks are not getting any less.
By exaggerating, GAFFA succeeds in drawing attention to everyday objects and asking what these objects actually stand for. Material alienation also plays an important role. The objects lose their functionality and their characteristics are often turned into the exact opposite. The car park ticket lies on the ground, carelessly discarded. In the exhibition, however, it appears in the form of a hand-tufted carpet, an object that is as decorative as it is expensive. The traffic sign is realised as an oil painting and hangs in the protected exhibition space instead of regulating traffic outside on the street. The pylon signals cuddly toy vibes rather than functioning as a warning and guiding cone. It doesn’t have much authority; you would much rather hug it. Finally, the car – the real prestige object in the room – is realised in inexpensive honeycomb cardboard.
What next? The question arises not only in relation to the current traffic problem, but also very specifically in the exhibition. Will the extra-long car manage to manoeuvre out of the gate and around the corner onto the road? What exactly is the traffic sign trying to tell us, where are we allowed to go and where not? The pylon blocks the way rather than guiding the flow of traffic. And the traffic lights always switch to red as soon as you approach them.
Inevitably, you come to the conclusion: we’re stuck, everything is somehow gridlocked, a total blockade. The only thing that helps now is humour. Humour helps us to gain insight, but also to catharsis. And it’s not just engines that need to let off steam, but also us humans from time to time.
About the artists:
GAFFA collective was founded in 2016 and consists of Wanja Harb (*1992 in St. Gallen), Linus Lutz (*1994 in St. Gallen), Dario Forlin (*1992 in Teufen) and Lucian Kunz (*1996 in Steinach). Under the name GAFFA, the collective has been publishing a monthly fanzine in A5 format since 2016. Each of these publications deals with a specific topic and is creatively implemented with a lot of wit and humour using collages, graphics and photos. Over 91 issues of GAFFA-Zines have been published to date. Since 2018, the collective has been developing installations and sculptural exhibitions. The three-dimensional works enter into conversation with the history of the space or location and thus address socially relevant topics with humour and subtlety. The interdisciplinary collective moves fluidly between different areas of applied design and the visual arts and has developed its own visual language over the years.
