The Future of Art is an interview series where I speak with artists on the topics of sustainability and climate change in relation to their artistic practices. The series aims to explore a range of viewpoints, not only those of artists working directly with these topics but also how it affects the practices of all artists, no matter their chosen themes or mediums.
Our next artist is Jarek Lustych. Jarek Lustych is Polish visual artist (b.1961) based in Warsaw. After his fifteen-year career in the confined space of printmaking, Lustych decided it was time for some change and has taken his work out of the gallery space in an attempt to redefine the perception of art.
Image: marqué, 2016, site-specific, siver gilded words & trees, 22 concepts, A ciel ouvert, Riorges, France
Tell us about your art. What do you create and why?
For over fifteen years I have been taking art for a walk, letting it take a breath after centuries of enclosure in galleries, collections and museums. It is known that galleries, by definition, ennoble everything that goes into them. By placing my work in thickets, gates, puddles, in a word, in contexts that - as they are out of the normal 'Culture rules' - are usually not associated with art, I have attempted to redefine the concept of art and redefine its area.
In my investigations I'm concerned with the elements of our everyday life which are scorned or ignored because of their commonplace unnoticeableness. It is this invisibility, with its hints of mystery and discovery, that I have always found the most alluring. My actions move these elements from the murky background to the limelight, emphasizing their value. Enhancing existing chaos, I intend to shake spectators out of the rut of everyday thinking and direct their attention to the hidden sense of events and ambiguity of the word.
How long have you been practicing as an artist?
It has been 33 years already. Initially, the main area of my artistic focus was relief printing. Exploring its possibilities and limitations, I created a series of works that have been shown in Poland and abroad and in competition presentations. My solo exhibition showed various stages of these experiences – in the changing technical solutions, formats, and in the methods of imaging. After this fifteen-years working in the confined space of printmaking, I decided it was time for some change and enriched my practice with an extra dimension in an attempt to redefine the perceived scope of art.
How have the topics of climate change and/or sustainability affected your artistic practice either directly or indirectly?
The public fetishistically substitutes consumer ideals for the lost, acculturating experiences of art. Very few realize that not only do we accumulate, but most of those purchases are junk. Many of us don't stop at purchasing merely basic needs, but invest and indulge in luxury goods. The consumer industry thrives on corrupting real desire for beauty and change. Consumptionism expansively calls for production beyond need in order to create high profits for producers and abundance for the public.
Amid a hailstorm of unbridled production, I'm embarrassed to add any new objects to this excess. Besides, imposing my autonomous creativity on the environment seems inequitable for me since I'm a part of the threatened environment. That's why with my work I usually explore existing entities. I'm eager to share authorship with the elements. Very often "nature art" just means putting pieces of art into nature. In this way nature is used as just a nice background. With my works I try to establish a dynamic relationship with the elements. The environment is an active part of my work. By using the unique properties of the environment, my projects aim to manifest the normally imperceptible aspects of the environment.
Have you reduced your carbon footprint in your professional practice in any way over the last few years. If so, how?
The only morally, environmentally indifferent activity would be not doing. But that's hard decision so you have to find the balance. I prefer, whenever possible, to work with discarded/recycled materials: wasted fruit boxes, soda/beer cans, plastic shoping bags, used tea bags and the like. Once these objects are passed their prime they are transformed into large piles of garbage. My work brings a new life to the materials (sometimes very beautiful) which are already forgotten and thrown away. These materials serve as signifiers of relationship and connections we have with the world around us.
Image: Watercolours, 2017, installation view, steel plates & pigment & sound, #Overflow, Müller’sches Volksbad, Munich, Germany
This images were created by the vibrations of rivers and now not only reproduce the inner music of the river, but also visualizes its pattern. In the cabins, the approximately DIN A 5 large pictures are stapled to the wall with small pins. The sound comes from a mini speaker.
Was there a certain point in time that you became more aware/self-conscious of climate change/sustainability issues?
Awareness of climate change/sustainability issues grew gradually for me. Just as these changes gradually increased. The development of the internet and thus the ease of access to various sources information has greatly accelerated this process. Then a few years ago I came up with a project whose element was snowfall. That for its implementation I had to wait a few years (compared to usual) clearly shows the impact of climate change.
In everyday life, the presence of brazen advertising forces one to think about the nature of global economic systems and their 'growth at all costs' paradigm. It makes one think: just when did greed stop being a cardinal sin?
Image: 'Axis mundi', 2014, site-specific, silver gilded tree & a pond, 5 m, 4th Landart Festival, Zwierzyniec, Poland
Do you think artists have a responsibility to respond to these issues? Why/Why not?
Thanks to their intuition, artists often see problems that the rest of the society does has not yet noticed. Often, they act accordingly. Hence telling them what should be a topic of their art is remiss.
On the one hand, of all human activity, art is particularly environmentally harmless. It's not like mass production. It's about sharing ideas, not material things. It doesn't need a huge amount of non-renewable raw materials, transport, logistics, broad and aggressive advertising campaigns. Artists should just follow their own way and be honest with their research.
On the other hand, there is the incredible growth of the global art market. Just think about all those art fairs and its carbon footprint. Artists should consider if they really need to participate. Especially when I'm not convinced this benefits the artist in any way.
'Latent voice', since 2015, site-specific, strings & rivers, links to recording selection (see below and Vimeo)
Using the principle of aeolian harp I got sound representing the subcutaneous / hidden / deviously creative power of flowing water. The sound is soft enough to be inaudible more than a few meters from the river, and loud enough to hear every infinite detail when the ear is close to the receptor. This will allow you to establish intimate contact with the elements - strings can be touched, and the vibrations are felt and heard.
Where can people find more of your work?
Visit Vimeo to view and listen to more of Jarek's fascinating sound and video works:
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