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Pictures at an exhibition
Obrazki z wystawy FIRST INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF MANUPORTS
12 August – 10 October 2021 Concept (excerpt): The oldest known manuport is the so-called Makapansgat pebble, a piece of jasperite that once fit into the palm of one of the oldest relatives of humankind roaming what is now South Africa, where it was discovered in 1925. What makes the pebble so interesting (apart from its clear resemblance to a face and the doubt as to whether its shape has been enhanced) is that it was found four kilometres away from the nearest natural source of jasperite, together with bones of the Australopithecus africanus that are three million years old. Such prehistoric readymades, usually invoking animals or human body parts, seem to indicate that even our earliest ancestors were capable of non-utilitarian cognition, aesthetic appreciation and possibly language, and that image-thinking is almost unimaginably old, certainly predating the earliest surviving cage paintings. |
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Concept (excerpt):
(...)Anima Mundi, which according to several historical cultures, religions, and philosophical systems, is an intrinsic connection between all living entities on the planet, which relates to the world in a similar way as the human soul is connected to the human body. Plato expressed his thought about the anima mundi in the Timaeus, "this world is indeed a living being endowed with a soul and intelligence...a single visible living entity containing all other living entities, which by their nature are all related". Anima mundi is the invisible energy behind all the natural and artificial elements that allows the planet to live. Thanks to the hidden connections of anima mundi, all the ecosystems of the Earth, before and after the appearance of mankind, found their equilibrium, their ways to live and develop themselves, to transform and evolve. All the beings of the planet, plants, minerals, and animals are permeated by the secret force that has always stimulated human thought and research. TheArt Fair aimed to discover these multiple forms of hidden connections between the soul and the body, mankind and the natural elements, the natural spaces and the cities. Artists were invited to show their reflections on the various ways in which the anima mundi expresses the relationships among all the existing entities and the natural and cultural systems, and to represent by their artistic works the processes of the evolution of the world in which we all live. Artist, designers, and architects were invited to talk about anima mundi through photo reportage of cities, hidden places, photographic documentaires, personal experiences, presenting their works of photography, painting, sculpture/installation, design and architecture, video art and live performance. |
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