Once a revolutionary proposition that predicted humans' inevitable co-existence with intelligent machines is what the 21st-century people call "ordinary life". Our corporeal lives are intertwined with the digital sphere to the point we’re oblivious to the fact that much of our reality isn't real anymore. Logistically, mentally, as well as physically dependent on machines, computers, gadgets, and apps, our post-human existence is turning out to be post-ordinary. And the homonymous group show featuring Paraskevi Frasiola, Pavle Pavlović, and Einari Hyvönen, is exploring how our everyday reality deformed under the influence of ever-present technology. POST-ORDINARY is conceptualized by Saša Bogojev and presented at Plan X in Milan from the 24th of February until the 25th of March, 2023.
- Saša Bogojev
Mutter, Amsterdam NL, curated by Angels Miralda
Paraskevi Frasiola’s drawings depict the anxious digital landscapes of our times where representation in the form of facial expressions inhabit waters and mountains as recognizable emoji characters. Frasiola’s tongue-in-cheek statements parallel the digital universe of captions and catchphrases as well as memetic humorous identification methods in our consumption of landscape as instagram stories and travel pictures. Each painting is made in a detailed and time-consuming hand-made copy that rejects the digital economy of immediacy. Hands slowly trace water and the emotions that wash over of the human mind - changing the chemical composition of the body.
This is sooooo Heliuarious @ Pitcairn Museum of Contemporary Art, Groningen, NL
For this installation, the whole space is thought of as a metaphor for acceptable social behavior. The space’s front and back walls are constructed in a hierarchical manner parallelizing polite and impolite behavior. The wallpaper constructed with animation frames follows this idea. At the front of the space they keep their poise while moving at the back of the museum, the pattern slowly changes till it reaches a hidden corner, an Easter egg work titled ‘how to hide your surprise in a museum’ and it is only available via social media.
What is the polite way to act when someone is in the spotlight and how they look when caught off guard? How to respond to a tedious discussion with an acquaintance? How to conceal boredom and look engaged at a conversation? The sun animation which is observed attentively is battling to keep a fake smile. If you listen closely you will hear the face muscles retracting and contracting while trying to maintain the right amount of distance between the two lips. You can imagine the voice in its head saying ‘keep your shit together, you are being watched’.
The paintings are paparazzi shots. Unexpected, revealing, catching you on a bad hair day, unapologetic and annoying.
And you know what? We have all been there, we will again.
The title is a wordplay between Helius (Ήλιος) Sun in Greek and hilarious.