In his art practice, Andrzej Wasilewski refers to the relationship of contemporary man with technology, communication, economy, archaeology, research methods and climate change, the nature of which has caused the current ethics, interdependence of genres, and finally creativity itself to become outdated.
The Absolute at Large is a site-specific audio-visual piece created especially for the show at TRAFO. The concept of the massive apocalyptic work combines a scientific approach with a sense of absurdity and black humour. The largest exhibition space of the building features a set of complementary installations, in which the artist uses the language of primitive technological forms, industrial iconography and pop culture to take up the complex topic of coal and fossil fuels in the context of climate change and new social and political utopias.
At the same time, The Absolute at Large is a play inspired by the spirit of neo-Dada or fluxus practices, stripping away the pathos of inflated values that envelop the language of the world of culture and “disguise” the bloated aesthetics of works in the spirit of art & science, sound-art or minimalism.
The motif of the titular Absolute at Large was taken from the classic Czech dystopian novel by Karel Čapek, in which a visionary inventor constructs a carburator – a device extracting inexhaustible energy from coal. In doing so it releases into the world the Absolute, the spiritual essence held within all matter.
If God is omnipresent, is it possible to extract the divine substance from any object? As the matter transforms into the concept of the Absolute, events get out of humanity’s control, causing a series of violent socio-political changes. While the carburator continues to release the Absolute, the process brings chaos, wars, and last but not least, nearly complete destruction of the human race.
Andrzej Wasilewski (born 1975) – visual and sound artist, lecturer, professor at the Academy of Art in Szczecin. Derived from the spirit and practices of counterculture, his art combines philosophical and social concepts. Wasilewski’s works have been exhibited in Poland and abroad; the artists has been invited to a number of residences. His pieces are held in collections in many countries across the world. Co-author of the installation Wolne Miasto Szczecin (“The Free City of Szczecin”) on the façade of the TRAFO building.