Embassy
Embassy transforms the gallery space into a temporal diplomatic outpost of a fictional, neo-monarchist political entity. The project is a critical study of contemporary fantasies about alternative forms of social organization, inspired by the idea of a network state—a digitally born state as described by Balaji Srinivasan, an entrepreneur and theorist from Silicon Valley, in which online communities construct their own decentralized institutions (based, among other things, on blockchain), consolidate capital and coordination in the cloud, and subsequently pursue real agency in the physical world, e.g. by acquiring territory and seeking diplomatic recognition.
The artist engages in a thought experiment: what would happen if we applied literally these techno-utopian concepts? The inspiration for the project came from a real-life event: a luxury ball organized by Polymarket (a blockchain-based betting platform) during the 2024 election night in New York City. At this party, the new tech elite celebrated in an aristocratic setting, turning politics into a spectacle and an opportunity for financial speculation.
The project deliberately combines the language of startup futurism with the aesthetics of the late aristocracy, reflecting the paradoxical popularity of neo-reactionary ideas in technological circles. Neo-reactionism is an intellectual movement that questions liberal democracy and advocates a return to more hierarchical forms of power—often using the latest technologies.
The idea of building a state from the ground up is hardly new. It has once been the domain of anarchistic experiments and self-governing temporary zones, such as the historical example of the “Drzymała's Wagon,” a Polish symbol of resistance that has become a mobile enclave beyond the control of the occupying forces. Today, it attracts those who, disappointed with the traditional model of the state, are looking for a high-tech reset of politics.
Kat Zavada deliberately confronts her perspective with Srinivasan's vision. This clash allows us to ask uncomfortable questions: Who is this new politics for? Is political granularization—the breakdown into smaller and smaller highly specialized communities—the answer to contemporary problems, or does it exacerbate them? What if this digital monarchist experiment, created partially as a critique, turns out to... work?
The Embassy does not offer simple answers. It is a political laboratory, a space for testing ideas that go beyond common sense, where the virtual intertwines with the physical to create new forms of political imagination.
In dialogue with IF/THEN, in a parallel and adjacent relationship, the project adopts a conditional form: if we accept the premises of the network state concept, then we observe their real effects on the community, institutions, and space.
- Kat Zavada
- artist, researcher, and curator of digital art, member of the Nerdka collective. As part of her PhD at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, she researches techno-feudalism and “digital monarchies,” and in her creative practice she explores post-work, post-colonialism in the region, neo-feudalism, and data politics. She creates video essays, sound, and performance, shown throughout Europe.
