The exhibition “Short Circuit” is an expression of the clinch in which the world found itself. Marta Zgierska focuses on possible weakness and withdrawal as a way of experiencing and creatively responding to the current crises of the reality. By abstracting the observed scenes and symbols from their natural context, the artist creates her own lexicon of oppression and dependency.

The exhibition unfolds along two axes. A first group of works combines images of the coexistence and mutual influence of elements of the orders of nature and civilisation. Wood, flesh, metal, rubber are the main materials from which the artist constructs semantic clashes. In this way, she reflects on the position of the individual, the single human being, who is increasingly defenceless in a system full of threats.

In the second part of the works, Marta Zgierska tries to experience reality by inverting key gestures, selecting essential elements and attributes of current crises and applying them to herself. The density of events and the accompanying instantaneous reactions evoke helplessness and powerlessness. At a time when a new issue is beginning to dominate the media and the society, the one from a year ago is swelling. It still exists, only to explode again in a moment. What we are talking about in the past tense is not going away. The erosion of women’s rights is not over, election campaigns based on hatred of minorities are in full swing, the refugee, climate and economic crises continue, the war continues.

Marta Zgierska understands withdrawal and allowing oneself to be weak as an attitude of humility and a response to the intensity, the weight and the distortions of the modern world. At the same time, however, it is a positive value, a kind of contemplation and empathy for those who experience differently than the pressure of their surroundings dictates. Human fragility, struggles and feelings, both physical and spiritual, are so unique that it is worth fighting for its survival.