Na początku października 2008 w mediach brytyjskich ogłoszony został miesięczny nabór propozycji artystycznych, które mogłby by zostać zaprezentowane w ramach projektu. Współpraca była proponowana przede wszystkim międzynarodowym artystom wizualnym i artystom performansu długoterminowo mieszkającym i pracującym w Wielkiej Brytanii. Wśród wybranych osób znaleźli się przedstawiciele narodowości Polskiej przebywający na emigracji.
Projekt rozwijał się jako bezpośrednia reakcja na nadesłane projekty i był współtworzony i dyskutowany z uczestniczącymi w nim artystami. Wybranych zostało ponad trzydziestu artystów, wypowiadających się w różnych formach i technikach. Każdy z nich poza przedstwieniem projektu realizacji w przestrzeni został zobligowany do napisania krótkiego tekstu na temat Poszukiwania Szczęścia w obrębie Świata Sztuki.
Zgromadzony materiał wizualny oraz fragmenty tekstów krytcznych osób zaproszonych do projektu posłużyły jako teoretyczne obramowanie wystawy.
The Pursuit of Happiness is a curatorial project that promotes the practice of artists interested in events and actions connected to a phenomenon of happiness. Through presenting their work the project aspires to explore the complex contemporary global idea of happiness and its pursuit. We solicited work from a diverse range of artists, with the aim of gathering a group of individuals of various origins; mainly those living and working in the UK. Artists were asked to submit a personal statement about the pursuit of happiness. As a consequence of the range of artworks and proposals submitted The Pursuit of Happiness consists of a variety of political, sociological, psychological and personal responses. These have inspired us to form mutually pervading sections within which the individual works are placed. These sections form the core of both the forthcoming exhibition and coinciding publication. The core’s shape reminds us of a wave or a stream and as such it is a visualization of the concept of The Pursuit of Happiness. This cyclical form is shaped by suggested points of reference (specified factors and activities), and the links between them. The form of the exhibition is seemingly limited, but when used as a map with the artists‘ works in situ it will enable The Pursuit of Happiness to evolve as an organic and subversive form. As such this proposes an experimentation in the approach to exhibiting as a medium in general. This project developed as a direct response to and is strongly influenced by the artists’ proposals. The exhibition will be the embodiment of multiplicative ways of understanding the pursuit of happiness. The role of the curator within this form is to be questioned and possibly undermined or accepted by the participating artists and the viewers. Following the exhibition „stream“, the visitor will experience a clash of accepted and disliked attitudes including hope and cynicism, despair and carelessness etc. The project is a collective questioning about happiness and an attempt to find out, not only what’s the artists‘ response to this theme is but also how they‘re looking for an answer. The Pursuit of Happiness will reveal methods and media that can be employed in order to get closer to happiness as well as express a disbelief in its existence. The Pursuit of Happiness will bring together various representations of the thing itself including a persistent and wearing everyday activity and the premature celebration of the nearly achieved goal. We are aware that as we are working with the theme of happiness we could be accused of being ridiculous and naïve. We take responsibility to protect and defense The Pursuit of Happiness project from such an accusation.
Projekt rozwijał się jako bezpośrednia reakcja na nadesłane projekty i był współtworzony i dyskutowany z uczestniczącymi w nim artystami. Wybranych zostało ponad trzydziestu artystów, wypowiadających się w różnych formach i technikach. Każdy z nich poza przedstwieniem projektu realizacji w przestrzeni został zobligowany do napisania krótkiego tekstu na temat Poszukiwania Szczęścia w obrębie Świata Sztuki.
Zgromadzony materiał wizualny oraz fragmenty tekstów krytcznych osób zaproszonych do projektu posłużyły jako teoretyczne obramowanie wystawy.
A month-long call for proposals was put out at the beginning of October 2008. It was addressed to all international visual and performance artists currently living and working in the United Kingdom. Realizations in all media were welcome. You will find fragments of these unique texts in The Pursuit of Happiness publication.
The Pursuit of Happiness is a curatorial project that promotes the practice of artists interested in events and actions connected to a phenomenon of happiness. Through presenting their work the project aspires to explore the complex contemporary global idea of happiness and its pursuit. We solicited work from a diverse range of artists, with the aim of gathering a group of individuals of various origins; mainly those living and working in the UK. Artists were asked to submit a personal statement about the pursuit of happiness. As a consequence of the range of artworks and proposals submitted The Pursuit of Happiness consists of a variety of political, sociological, psychological and personal responses. These have inspired us to form mutually pervading sections within which the individual works are placed. These sections form the core of both the forthcoming exhibition and coinciding publication. The core’s shape reminds us of a wave or a stream and as such it is a visualization of the concept of The Pursuit of Happiness. This cyclical form is shaped by suggested points of reference (specified factors and activities), and the links between them. The form of the exhibition is seemingly limited, but when used as a map with the artists‘ works in situ it will enable The Pursuit of Happiness to evolve as an organic and subversive form. As such this proposes an experimentation in the approach to exhibiting as a medium in general. This project developed as a direct response to and is strongly influenced by the artists’ proposals. The exhibition will be the embodiment of multiplicative ways of understanding the pursuit of happiness. The role of the curator within this form is to be questioned and possibly undermined or accepted by the participating artists and the viewers. Following the exhibition „stream“, the visitor will experience a clash of accepted and disliked attitudes including hope and cynicism, despair and carelessness etc. The project is a collective questioning about happiness and an attempt to find out, not only what’s the artists‘ response to this theme is but also how they‘re looking for an answer. The Pursuit of Happiness will reveal methods and media that can be employed in order to get closer to happiness as well as express a disbelief in its existence. The Pursuit of Happiness will bring together various representations of the thing itself including a persistent and wearing everyday activity and the premature celebration of the nearly achieved goal. We are aware that as we are working with the theme of happiness we could be accused of being ridiculous and naïve. We take responsibility to protect and defense The Pursuit of Happiness project from such an accusation.
Zbigniew Kotkiewicz
What to begin with? Questioning.
How do we, as individuals, search for Happiness, how do we experience it and how do we relate to its existence, or lack of existence? Some of the answers to these questions can be suggested by artifacts such as videos, installations or paintings gathered within our project.
The Pursuit of Happiness exhibition includes conceptual statements relating to general antimonies, references to meaning and allusions to them. A number of works reflect the influence of media and modern technology on the individual, while others touch on topics most often disseminated by the media today: violence, threat and danger. There are also several ventures into the private realm, often both expressive and obsessive. Artists selected for this project use several mediums and techniques to note, encode and register Happiness, but also to decode and understand their own worlds.
Tekla Wozniak
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