02-22/09/2013
exhibition
Piotr Kmita
When he’s gone
- Ain't no sunshine when he's gone
It's not warm when he's away.
Ain't no sunshine when he's gone
And he's always gone too long
Anytime he goes away
– sang Nancy Sinatra, covering Bill Withers’ unforgettable song. This fragment could be sung to all the Hollywood actresses and actors nominated for an Oscar, whom in the end, were not lucky enough to receive one. First, they walked down the red carpet, smiling towards the hundreds of flashes, then they sat in a great hall (where all the cameras were pointed at them), fully aware of the fact that millions of people around the world were watching them, beguiled by the promise of the receipt of a gilded statue, tensely waiting to hear the magic words, "And the Oscar goes to..." And? Nothing. The name that came after those words, belonged to someone else, a competitor, rival, another actor, perhaps a better one, and certainly more convincing for the venerable Academy. Shock and disbelief. How many similar situations can we recall in our own lives?- About Piotr Kmita’s implementations, in the context of last year's exhibition at Wroclaw’s BWA, Paweł Jarodzki wrote: "...they’re about the history of acquiring the American Dream, which, contrary to appearances, we all dream about. We watch movies, participate in the world of art, or we just want to spend a holiday in tropical paradise and buy an apartment in a gated community on credit." After all, there can only be one winner, and in the end, everyone has to wake up from their dream.
- The work When He's Gone is an extension of the implementation presented at the above mentioned exhibition. Its essence lies in artificiality, pretense, perfect play-acting and the knowledge of what viewers should be seeing on their television screens and what they should be experiencing then. They should, so they will see and experience it. Likewise, at Piotr Kmita’s exhibition.
- Marcin Krasny
Partner
Bank Pekao Project Room media patrons
Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art media patrons
