SLAVOFUTURISM
Design objects and clothes are a tangible everyday reflection of political philosophy, so how could new forms of sustainable government be experimented, applied and expressed through their shape and use?
The appeal that souverainism may have for Eastern Europe (as well as for the West), is comprehensible, taking in account how problematic some political and historical transitions were from the 80’s until now. But the recentering around identity, sense of belonging, self-expression and local culture and tradition should not belong to the extreme right exclusively:
I am interested in building a creative narrative through design, photography and performance that nurtures itself from progressive Polish and Eastern European imagery, ideas of revolutionary consciousness, tolerance and mysticism inspired by a manifold cultural heritage: The Union of Lublin, Baba Yaga, Russian Futurism, peasant uprising leader Jakub Szela, science fiction works by Stanisław Lem, the trance of mazurka musicians and polyphonic chants from Ukraine. I see mixing these elements as a way of working on the concept of Slavofuturism, in which past, present and future exist in the same time-space. An important element of such a futuristic view is governance. The latest events in 2020 have shown us how vulnerable and simultaneously connected nations are around the globe, comparable to one living organism, which, if affected in one part, will be influenced in its entirety. Combining this awareness with radical Ecologism and ideas from Ecomodernism, in this project I want to incorporate natural materials found in our environment and focus on their 21st century application, experimenting in this way with power structures and proposing new distributions of it. How do design forms and mechanism influence our navigation through everyday life? Is problem-solving itself the answer or is it too much of a mechanistic approach? Are 21st century problems to be solved at all?