Through sound, sculpture and installation, alongside post-photographic processes Agata Madejska reflects on the articulation of both personal and institutional power, questioning the rational organisation of society, ideological narratives, and the interplay between domestic and state politics. In her recent work she examines the parameters of value and revenue by looking at various ideologies of ownership, such as assets, natural and public resources, housing and infrastructure, the woman’s body as commodity, and the body politic at large. Informed by her personal history, of growing up in and migrating from post-communist Poland, Madejska is interested in moments of political disintegration, alternative economic utopias, pilot schemes, prototypes, and all sorts of simulations in which the idea of failure and success is equally possible.
During her residency at ACRE Agata will work on her project Where Dreams of Laurels Lie, titled after Audre Lorde’s poem East Berlin 1989. She will explore themes of post-socialist identity crises, systemic collapse, and feminist perspectives on narratives of ownership. Within the context of post-Brexit austerity and the increasing radicalisation in the West, the work examines ways in which economic policies, and ideological shifts reshape societal structures, particularly regarding distribution of wealth & power and gender equality. Her research will focus on the radicalisation within former socialist spheres, as consequences of German reunification. In that context she will be exploring economic development programmes like the Marshall Plan and Aufbau Ost taking a closer look at how they redefined women’s roles in both domestic and institutional spheres, exacerbating generational trauma.
Co- financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland and Belmacz, London
