Artists: Jakub Gliński, Tomas Auksas
Waste of Civilisation is a collaborative exhibition between artist Jakub Gliński and filmmaker Tomas Auksas that questions the relationship society has with imperfection. Glinski presents an opportunity for the onlooker to revaluate their attitude towards consumerism through repurposing discarded material and presenting its new forms that plays between the lines of abstract expressionism and anarchism. This is juxtaposed with Auksas’s documentary which explores societies disrepute for those suffering with severe disabilities and related-psychosis.
Glinski does not search for a political subject in his work, instead, he emphasises the dependence of his intuition and subconscious development to influence the body in his projects. Much of his inspiration is drawn from his dreams, his daily life and his conclusions on his observations in it. The context of his work resonates as a diary, allowing the spectator to consider the subject from many different perspectives, as there is not a fixed context from his position. Although there is a strong level of ambiguity, what remains clear is the rebellious tone that is consistently present in all his pieces, highlighted through his abstract nature. His compositions express grandeur and ruthlessness, inaccurately drawn in his paintings and simultaneously contradicted with the bleeding and subtle merging of colour, suggesting a dream-like state.
Whilst the random collection of material and sounds used in his performances can act as defiance against the contemporary art world, he sabotages the foundations of beauty through presenting his work in a way that leaves the spectator in a juxtaposition. On the one hand, we have waste; we have imperfection. Yet, at the same time, there is admission to think beyond the social constructions of objectification and when this is done, one can see the beautiful in a completely different way.
About Jakub Gliński
Painter, performer, experimental musician Jakub Gliński started his career as an experimental music producer oscillating around genre of noise under the name of JESUS IS A NOISE COMMANDER. Since the very beginning Gliński was focused on the performative aspects of his projects, avoiding long-plays and album formats. He performed in Poland as well as abroad in countries such as Great Britain, Ireland, Holland and Czech Republic.
Visuals played an integral part of his performances – mainly in the form of his outfits which conveyed trashy aesthetics – such as the as the rabbit costume – remade and developed by adding different forms of waste and spoilage. His music performances are impressively engaging for the public, giving a certain amount of control back to the crowd to shape its final form.
Since 2013 Gliński’s sonic and performative work has started to merge with painting elements. Similarly as with his music shows, the artist always emphasized the gesture and non-finished artefact, very often destroying his paintings in the gallery spaces the seconds after the show was over. The aesthetics of the neglected public space full of devastated elements of the urban infrastructure and awkward graffiti harmonise in Gliński’s paintings together with his personal experiences. Usually they are merged with the element of uncontrolled expression under the influence of various drugs experiments as well as different techniques and elements learned by Gliński when he used to work as a construction worker and 3D prints specialist.
Industrial elements of Gliński’s work are far from subtle and minimal compositions of the likes of Anthony Caro, accenting the precariat and balancing on the edge of decay, always emphasized by his tools, such as montage foam or broken mattress stellars. The foundation of his work is based on the confrontation of apparently contrary strategies and aesthetics, emerging from the surrealistic automatism and abstract expressionism to classic minimalism, all filtered by the reality of growing up in post-soviet and late capitalistic realities.
About Tomas Auksas
Tomas Auksas is a young filmmaker, artist and the Creative Director of the global cultural diplomacy organisation Liberatum. Wallpaper Magazine has described him as a “polymath”. Auksas’ themes often focus on social stigmas, minorities and global issues that affect humanity and life on earth.
Since 2009, he has worked on impactful and compelling cultural endeavours and creative projects across the world, primarily with Liberatum. His creative work has been covered by leading publications globally such as The Guardian, Vice, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Dazed and Confused, Forbes and Fast Company. Some of the luminaries he has interviewed and filmed include Nicole Kidman, Sir David Attenborough, Cher, Susan Sarandon, Pele, Tracey Emin and David Hockney on topics related to women empowerment, creativity and climate change. He is a co-director of the 2017 environmental feature documentary “In This Climate” that features Noam Chomsky, Deepak Chopra, Mark Ruffalo, Marina Abramovic among many others. “In This Climate” has been included in the United Nations Education Program.
Auksas is also an activist working on humanitarian initiatives with the Liberatum Foundation to educate the public and promote acceptance of marginalised people within our society as well as helping impoverished communities through art and culture. From transgender and intersex rights in Latin America to a recent film about young people with disabilities living in a mental asylum in Eastern Europe, he continues to break taboos, open minds and educate society. Auksas was born in Lithuania and raised in the United Kingdom.