For his first UK exhibition, Branas has responded to Home of Metal, inspired by the theatrical nature of metal music subculture. The mask and the disguise, which are an integral part of the shamanic, heavy metal music rituals such as gigs and festivals.
Branas presents 80 masks made of different materials, along with a video performance and an installation constructed from used products packaging. .His masks, hand-made from leaves, papier-mâché and wood, draw attention to the ambiguity between the mask and the face. He connects questions about modern fetishes, vitality, hidden identities and the enigmatic relationship between a face and a mask.
Accompanying the exhibition on Centrala’s ground floor Looking beyond the concrete wall’ plays on an idea of a customized basement of a block of flats as a shared space for metal music fans. Displayed materials include home-made zines from 70’s and 80’s, interviews with researchers, creators and metalheads involved in alternative music culture in Poland. The exhibition also presents photos of Polish underground communities in 70’s and 80’s. All displayed items embody the fascination of a raw and vivid subculture, which for many people was considered as an escape from political issues of that time. As always, a Western phenomenon, which has been brought behind the Iron Curtain, gained its own specific identity.