In his practice, Paweł Kasprzak avoids calling himself an artist. He treats art as a medium to tell the stories of people whose experiences are frequently overlooked. In his practice, he uses objects from production halls, combining them with movement, words and sculptural forms. He wants to show workers and restore their identity, exposing the way in which the working system makes them lose their individuality and agency.
The rhythm and narrative of the exhibition are determined by repetitiveness. Despite the apparent purity of form, Kasprzak’s works are not a white-cube monument. Moving objects from halls to galleries is not an attack, it is a gesture. It is not a scream, it is a quiet, sometimes tired voice. Wondering how many times you have to repeat it for something to change.
By depriving objects of their original functions, Paweł does not change their context. On the contrary, by changing their location, he exposes their original meaning. The design of the project is simple and minimalist. Its austerity emphasizes the alienation and powerlessness of the individual in the face of the existing mechanisms of modernity. Kasprzak, showing the marginalization of the topic, tells the story from an outsider’s perspective. Taking advantage of his current position, he directs his gaze to the experiences of those who do not have the power to voice them.
I keep wondering if the project will reach them. Is there any space for their story in naturally privileged places? I think about the causative potential of art, about the meaning of this silent act. But the meaning takes place between the words, beyond the white walls, in the echo, in the reverberation. (Dominika Głowala)
Pawel Kasprzak – born in 1996. Graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk and the University of Arts in Poznań. Winner of the Grey House Foundation competition. Founder and member of the noise-punk band ALARM!. Member of the anti-fascist, artistic-activist collective BASTA. In his art practice he focuses on the phenomenon of violence, researching into its manifestations and factors of occurrence. He is its observer, anthropologist and commentator. He critically evaluates its expressions, with an impact on the systemic, cultural and socio-political space. Paweł Kasprzak does not consider himself an artist despite his use of artistic practices – he employs them as a worker of art. He desacralizes the spaces of art galleries by introducing the marginalized artistic motif of labor.
