Artists: Jan Możdżyński and Øleg & Kaśka
Exhibition title: Come Out and Play
Curated by: Adrian Chorębała
Venue: Rondo Sztuki Gallery, Katowice, Poland
Date: August 7 – September 15, 2020
Photography: All images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Rondo Sztuki Gallery, Katowice
„There is a hierarchy of gods, humans, animals and plants. The best among humans are prophets, seers, doctors and princes, and come back as gods”
Eliot Weinberger „An Elemental Thing”
„Failure allows us to escape the punishing norms that discipline behavior and guide human development in order to free us from unruly childhood in the name of orderly and predictable adulthood. Failure preserves something of the wonderful anarchy of childhood years and disrupts the supposedly clear boundaries between adults and children, winners and losers. And while failure is accompanied by a range of negative affects, such as disappointment, loss of illusions, and despair, it provides an opportunity to use them to reveal the defects of the toxic positivity of modern life. ”
Jack Halberstam „Queer art of failure”
Is art a space where a risk of failure can be taken? Can artists, by making a try, not only face their own limitations, but fulfill everyone’s dreams of becoming someone else on their own terms, not like the actor in the film who fulfills the director’s orders? „Come out and play ”is a perverse project because the artists consciously cross their comfort zone by impersonating characters and creating phenomena and situations whose character does not fully suit them. And the effect of changes and challenges that Jan Możdżyński and Øleg&Kaśka undergo remains unknown until the very end. In their works, the „queer art of failure” always has an original taste and is included in their activities. Irony, conscious flirting with kitsch and taking full advantage of the world of the Internet. Fetishisation of an object presented as a guru or a designer revealing its secret powers. The artists can fall into this new age traps with a specific infatuation enhanced by the body and soul renewal. Like in a hallucinogenic trance, you will be able to see the hidden side of your subconscious mind.
“Come out and play” reflects the rituals of transition between the mystical and corporeal world, showing the second life of reality. Sometimes it is going beyond one’s own habits. As Øleg&Kaśka say, “the phenomenon of piercing this bubble seems to be almost magical or deeply spiritual process.” There will be plenty of portraits of creatures in the transformation phase or self-proclaimed gurus in today’s world.
Entering the world of “magic tarot, boastful creatures and strange objects” – as Jan Możdzyński put it, you have to leave your own prejudices at the door and let yourself be invited for the title game.
