Ascent

About:

Ascent by Karolina Halatek – it’s a large-scale immersive light installation. Vertical shape of the spiral is a repetition of the form of a circle, that could refer to a particle in motion, an electromagnetic wave or represent the synthesis of an anticyclone and ecstatic elevation. The luminous smoke invites the viewer to enter the eye of the cyclone. The viewer has the ability to change perception by simulating an experience bordering on a supernatural atmospheric phenomenon. The visitor becomes a co-creator of the work on the borderline of the biotic and a-biotic, as well as the real and unreal environment. Entering the interior of the installation receiver can face the idea of ​​the World.

Many factors influence human behavior. It depends on non-economic factors such as geographical and natural (place of residence, climate, natural environment conditions, degree of pollution), civilization and cultural factors (culture and subculture) and external socio-cultural factors. Consumers migrate, encountering a new area and different environmental conditions. According to J. Gajewski, certain types of behaviors, norms and value systems serve human development and help them adapt to a new environment. They will become a permanent part of their system and the behavior of communities. On the other hand, culture smuggles immaterial consumption caused by new cultural stimuli. The new socio-cultural character is constantly evolving. The consumer constantly has to adapt to changes. Because of this, they become attentive and creative. Regardless of the number of cultural variables, the marks of indigenous culture will remain permanent. These include purchase and use preferences for individual products, purchasing habits, reception of promotional measures, attitude to individual forms of trade, approach to the method of particular financing. Hence, the value of culture and works of art seems to be significant. The transhumanist Hałatek work shows how important is the inner sense of one's own place, the scope of the area in which we want to function and relax, and at the same time be able to be sensitive to external changes. Are we creative enough to create our own alternative to the world of deconsumption?

Bauman wrote: ,,in the society of consumers, (...)
An essential element is one's own
metonymic identification with that group.”[1]

1. Consuming Life, Bauman Zygmunt, 2009, Publishing house Jagiellonian University of Kraków

Artist: Karolina Hałatek
Blacksmith: Arkadiusz Kania
Production: Publish Art, 2022