JURASSIC GARDEN

Jurassic Garden / Ogród Jurajski is a response to the current and increasingly unpredictable global situation. Sensing a moment of historical detour and the arrival of
an era of decline, the artists turn to ordinary materials—readily available in the time of a pandemic—and mundane methods of creation, in the hopes of simulating the return of the prehistoric age and the discourse of Jurassic reptiles, sulfur, fire, and rocks.

The gallery space, like a Platonic cave, is occupied by sculptures of bonfires inspired by a recent incident of burning books, Hello Kitty umbrellas, non-Western masks, and other “dangerous” objects by a group of Roman Catholic priests from Gdańsk. Also present are a mammoth tusk, and a cardboard robot—the inept variant of its more sophisticated, sci-fi predecessors—that thoughtlessly bumps against the walls and other obstacles in its path. 

Another group of works on display is a series of woodblock prints that loosely reference the execution of Socrates, reproduced in ink containing traces of hemlock (Conium maculatum), the poison that killed the philosopher. Woodcut technique to an inexperienced woodcut maker could be likened to having one’s hand transformed into a bear paw or Yeti’s pad: incapable of subtlety and refinement. This is another symbolic and very intentional nod towards regression.

Kodak Zeitgeist, a video work that pretends to be an analog slide projection, mechanically flashes drawings, woodcuts, watercolors, and sketches inspired by the reptilian iconography of Godzilla films and medieval dragons, occasionally punctuated by the imagery appropriated from the works by Hans Memling and random press archives.