The aesthetic of Despair and Desolation
Domestic Functional Objects and Products of Intellectual Agility
It would help, in order to understand but also to enjoy this group of works, which will be presented as a whole in a single installation, to engage in a mental adventure whereby we place ourselves in a hypothetical dystopic and unpleasant environment.
Following a totally sudden and unforeseeable series of tragic and painful events, we are faced with everyday life conditions where everything is hard and not at all self-evident.
I will explain what I mean with some examples that will set the narrative context.
We are stranded on some deserted island, “accompanied” by whatever the sea has washed up from the shipwreck. On the positive side we have survived; however everything is at a primitive starting point and has to be determined from scratch with resourcefulness and without any aesthetic inhibitions.
We are faced with a global economic meltdown, suddenly homeless, possibly obliged to make our “home” in an abandoned building, under a bridge, on the edge of town. In the margin of a reality…
From one moment to the next, we are caught in a sudden military conflict. Material goods are anything but given and everything is up for reassessment. Preserving life is the first priority; however the desire for some rudimentary pleasure besides food still exists as a fundamental philosophical surplus value that turns its back on death.
So, all the necessary everyday objects have to be created with whatever is available. Scrap, “garbage” matter, remnants and leftovers of consumer goods, all kinds of odds and ends, all kinds of disparate items, by necessity, they all constitute our raw material. Slowly, steadily, without second thoughts and with whatever skills we have, a new world of objects shapes our space.
Tables, chairs, armchairs, sofas, coat stands, beds, cupboards, floor and table lighting fixtures, screens, bookcases, wall mirrors, works of art, utensils, small sculptures, house candelabra…
The installation by focusing on calamity exudes and radiates the aesthetic of despair and desolation.
Everything from scratch and with our own hands.
The DIY as the only option.
Contradiction, lack of homogeneity, diversity - constitute the creative intention.
It is essential to understand that the spectator will be “confronted” with the representation of the atmosphere of a “department store”, whose products - unique and original by necessity - are sold in a period of extreme economic and social crisis. The final result of the presentation of the works making up the installation should reflect this heterogeneity.
It is clear that I am describing a staged reality in which I am methodically fragmenting myself into different personalities, obliging myself to act creatively as independent, diverse people unknown to each other.
I act, that is, as approximately ten different characters - creators/suppliers of the store in which the handmade objects are available for sale.
Their aesthetic footprint of the objects reflects the lack of abundance.
An underground and allegorical hymn to diversity and coexistence.
In quest of peace, prosperity and equilibrium.
Dimitris Merantzas
May 2020