Happy New Year
Video Installation, 16:42, 2011
My work is a reflection on illegal existence which is not only associated with an optional alternative but a no-win situation of persons excluded from the system and society. "Happy New Year" is a series of artistic interventions that focus on the realization of dreams of the homeless from Katowice. This project is open-ended. This is a kind of manifest, which consists of cyclical building or rebuilding of a house in which the protagonists of the project live. "Happy New Year" is a project about a particular group of homeless people and their illegal existence. It is a story about this community with its own system of values, rights and responsibilities, which is trying to survive in the capitalist jungle. This is a study of loneliness that brings with it irreversible effects on human existence. It is a story of helplessness, and the dream about some day finding a permanent roof over one’s head, or a piece of land from which one cannot be thrown off.
Artist's Bio:
Łukasz Surowiec (1985) is an interdisciplinary artist – sculptor, performer and video artist – who creates installations in public space. In his artistic search, he often looks at the functioning of socially marginalized groups (video series "Happy New Year"), and also designs social – artistic solutions. Surowiec is an artist who employs art as a kind of research tool on the world at large – allowing for its better use.