photo: Kasia Los
Artwork
「Activist Karaoke Room」 2023 2 sofas, mirror ball with paint, TV screen with original karaoke videos, microphone, textiles
「Climate Protest Karaoke」 2022 video
「New Patriotic Song Book」 2018 video
「The Earth is not yet lost」 2022 Acrilic spray on poliester [85x830cm]
「The Earth is not yet lost」 2021 video [2:50]
「History Distorts Everything」 2020 video
「Stay in Good Health, Girl」 2022 Cotton with embroidery on wooden stick [65x56cm]
「Don’t You Know that You’re Toxic?」 2023 Wool [130x67cm]
「Bread and Roses」 2023 Cotton with embroidery [130x205cm]
「Sailor Star Song」 2022 video [1:49]
Concept
「Climate Protest Karaoke」
We have altered parts of popular songs by Britney Spears, ABBA, and Beata Kozidrak to help us express emotions elicited by climate change’s effects. The hits we hear on the radio often tell stories of heartbreak. All it takes is a small intervention for them to suddenly become protest songs helping us carry the weight of our times. We intercept music belonging to a commercialised capitalist culture to express our collective anger and grieve with Planet Earth. By singing songs we know from our teenage years, we transform nostalgia for our past youth into sadness for the already irreversible climate change. This project debuted at the 2019 Future of Culture Forum, and was also presented as part of a residency at the Departaments of Presence at the Muzuem Sztuki Nowoczesna in Warsaw. Recordings of the Instagram Karaoke are available on the Department of Presence’s profile on Instagram.
「New Patriotic Song Book」
The granting of suffrage to women in Poland coincided with our regaining independence. The celebration of independence was overshadowed by the fact that Poland was one of the first countries in the world to recognise political equality for citizens regardless of gender. These two undoubtedly important historical events need not compete with each other. Singing patriotic songs is one of the most unifying and popular practices of remembrance. We learn national songs from childhood, often humming them unreflectively. We rarely think about the meaning of the words we repeat. This piece reflects on this, and offers a new perspective for listeners.
Profile
A group of artist-activists who met at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in 2018. Developing individual projects, they are united by friendship and a need to create socially engaged art. Their works deal with identity, history, memory, gender, feminism and ecology. They believe in sisterhood and reality-changing quality of art. Their first project “New Patriotic Song Book” (2018-) is still ongoing and received the award of distinction at 2018 Young Wolf Prize; Their work was part of 2021 Lost in Translation exhibition (Kyoto City University of Arts Art Gallery @ KCUA) and 2022 Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival (Osaka) as well as many other exhibitions and projects in Poland and abroad.
Exhibition
Venue
Event
‘Sing karaoke with Kolektyw Łaski!’
Songs in Japanese, English, Ukrainian and Polish! Let’s start a revolution with our singing voices!
Dates: 1/28 Sat. 16.00-18.00, 1/29 Sun. 16.00-19.00
Performers: Kolektyw Łaski (Julia Golachowska, Jagoda Kwiatkowska, Anna Shimomura)
Venue: Semba Excel Building 4F