Stachu Szumski
Prognosis for the era of postthermomodernization
In his implementation, Stach Szumski is trying to establish an abstract simulation of the future. The installation, composed of materials that enable buildings to store heat, is reminiscent of a para-archeological outcrop of the facade of a block, wherein the relics of vandalism undergo the process of fossilization.
We live in a time of progressive thermo-modernization. The alchemical practice of foaming polystyrene granules guarantees us a great deal of polystyrene. Without it, thermo-modernization would not have transpired. When the details of the pre-war tenement houses are drowning in insulation, and with every step we are surprised by the transformation process of modernism into thermo-modernism, a new, insulated and secure architectural perspective is born.
In regards to the question of the vitality of these shells, technologists are claiming the temporary immortality of polystyrene covered in a plaster cover. How will archeology shape itself in the era of post-thermalmodernization? Will subsequent generations end up taking styrofoam scales off from facades in search of prior relics, and will the graffiti hidden during insulation become a kind of stratigraphic unit? Will there be another field of archeology dedicated to thermo-modernization explorations?
The source of archeology is rooted in the process of generating polystyrene. Styrene is processed crude oil, and according to the theory of the organic origin of oil, it is comprised of metamorphosed plant and animal as well as mineral deposits. Polystyrene as the direct descendant of original layers returns in a materialized and processed version, by layering the present.
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- Jagna Domżalska
