Artists
Apparatus 22
Erratic Statistics (cluster of 3), 2015-ongoing
(c) Apparatus 22 und Suprainfinit Gallery, Bukarest; Foto: Stefano Maniero
Apparatus 22, a multidisciplinary art collective,
explores political and social contexts with an artistic practice aimed at uncovering and understanding contemporary social structures. Buoyed by a critical approach that draws on knowledge from the worlds of design, literature, economics, and sociology, their works - texturally rich and infused with distinct materiality - blend reality with fictional narrative. Pieces that reflect this include both the immersive, walk-through installation Morpheus Buyback (2011), a proposal of new objects for transactions in the gift economy, and Everything is at Play (2019), the celebratory-yet-critical confetti rain that sparked collective reflection on what an art institution can be.
Their multifaceted works create space for a wide array of far-reaching questions. If consensus is the “ultimate dream,” wouldn’t that imply an assimilation of differences? By extension, doesn’t it involve too many compromises? Trinity, Triangle,
Threesome (2020) both manifests and questions this moment of perpetual movement between conflict and consensus. Is consensus really elementary? Perhaps it should remain an unattainable ideal?
Their works are to be understood as constructs - ones that allow viewers to traverse social realms in their own, unique ways and in their own imaginations. The process of stimulating mental images adds participatory value to each of their works, inviting viewers to create new levels of
meaning, contemplate contemporary readings of
subject matter, and in doing so complete the artwork as she or he sees fit. This is also true of the striped rods in the Erratic Statistics series (2015-ongoing). Each unique in appearance, they represent a poetic reflection on color, diversity, and fascination with conglomerate states, and provide a critique of colorism and flat black and white. Alluding to the barely-concealed Westernized domination of the fashion system and alarming statistics pointing to a Europe consumed with rising intolerance, they raise compelling questions about racism and diversity.
Text: Gloria Aino Grzywatz; englische Übersetzung: Amy Patton
Apparatus 22, a multidisciplinary art collective,
explores political and social contexts with an artistic practice aimed at uncovering and understanding contemporary social structures. Buoyed by a critical approach that draws on knowledge from the worlds of design, literature, economics, and sociology, their works - texturally rich and infused with distinct materiality - blend reality with fictional narrative. Pieces that reflect this include both the immersive, walk-through installation Morpheus Buyback (2011), a proposal of new objects for transactions in the gift economy, and Everything is at Play (2019), the celebratory-yet-critical confetti rain that sparked collective reflection on what an art institution can be.
Their multifaceted works create space for a wide array of far-reaching questions. If consensus is the “ultimate dream,” wouldn’t that imply an assimilation of differences? By extension, doesn’t it involve too many compromises? Trinity, Triangle,
Threesome (2020) both manifests and questions this moment of perpetual movement between conflict and consensus. Is consensus really elementary? Perhaps it should remain an unattainable ideal?
Their works are to be understood as constructs - ones that allow viewers to traverse social realms in their own, unique ways and in their own imaginations. The process of stimulating mental images adds participatory value to each of their works, inviting viewers to create new levels of
meaning, contemplate contemporary readings of
subject matter, and in doing so complete the artwork as she or he sees fit. This is also true of the striped rods in the Erratic Statistics series (2015-ongoing). Each unique in appearance, they represent a poetic reflection on color, diversity, and fascination with conglomerate states, and provide a critique of colorism and flat black and white. Alluding to the barely-concealed Westernized domination of the fashion system and alarming statistics pointing to a Europe consumed with rising intolerance, they raise compelling questions about racism and diversity.
Text: Gloria Aino Grzywatz; englische Übersetzung: Amy Patton