LOCKOUT
Solo exhibition, City Art Gallery of Kalisz, PolandCurated by Stach Szabłowski
10.02–31.03.2022
Dominik Ritszel’s exhibition presents the episodes of a certain social history that reaches its turning point, and perhaps even its end. Is this a history of modernity? History of patriarchy? History of masculinity? These concepts, so far closely related to each other, are unraveling before our eyes and are being redefined. Patriarchy ceases to be synonymous with a modern social organization. Modernity is not what it used to be, and modern masculinity is certainly not what it will be in the future.
“Lockout” is composed of four video installations made by the artist in the years 2014-2022. Each is a study of a different social structure that serves to organize the male subjects into a collective body subjected to discipline and uniformity. The artist looks at the school, gym, barracks, training ground, battlefield, or the public space in which the collective body of the forces of order manages the collective body of society, and finally at workplaces where individuals participate in the process of collective production. Ritszel is interested in the architecture and aesthetics of institutions serving to educate for joint activities. The artist analyzes their choreography, as well as the costumes and uniforms that turn many into one. He pays special attention to the issues of belonging, as well as to the traditional attribute of masculinity, i.e. strength (physical, military, related to work), which in a modern social organization is strengthened and trained, and at the same time subjected to discipline and control of power.
Ritszel takes up his reflection at the moment of a cultural turning point, the crisis of patriarchal modernity, which is closely related to the exhaustion of the paradigm of traditional masculinity. The social production line of modernity, operating on the line between school – gym – army – workplace, ceases to function. The exhibition opens with the premiere of “The Earth Will Swallow it All,” in which the artist, based on the example of Upper Silesia, examines the social and spiritual effects of deindustrialization and changes in the transformation era in Poland – processes included in the broader context of globalization. A big lockout follows, the big industry is liquidated, and there are collective layoffs. Millions of people have to reinvent themselves. This is especially true of men who are brought up to be part of a collective, disciplined entity. This entity is falling apart before our eyes; in the landscape of post-industrial, globalized capitalism, everyone is supposed to be the architect of his or her own fortune – and everyone is alone.
Ritszel’s works are narratives created on the border between eras: we were brought up by institutions that prepared us to live in the order that is about to end. This moment of the turning point is clearly seen in the shifting perceptions of the social roles that women and men play. Feminist critique of patriarchy has a long and rich tradition and an enormous theoretical output. Against this background, the contemporary theory of masculinity appears to be anachronistic and suffering from deficits in self-awareness and self-knowledge. The experience of postmodern masculinity is accompanied by confusion and uncertainty: how to perform one‘s identity when the old patterns are inadequate to the current reality and the new ones have not yet been developed?
In this situation, Ritszel looks for cracks in the apparent monolith of traditional masculinity. He follows the moments in which weakness comes to the fore in manifestations of power, the violence is lined with delicacy, and the allegedly unambiguous binary identity reveals its non-obvious, queer dimension. In these cracks, the artist sees potential ways out of the cultural and political crisis we find ourselves in.
“Lockout” is composed of four video installations made by the artist in the years 2014-2022. Each is a study of a different social structure that serves to organize the male subjects into a collective body subjected to discipline and uniformity. The artist looks at the school, gym, barracks, training ground, battlefield, or the public space in which the collective body of the forces of order manages the collective body of society, and finally at workplaces where individuals participate in the process of collective production. Ritszel is interested in the architecture and aesthetics of institutions serving to educate for joint activities. The artist analyzes their choreography, as well as the costumes and uniforms that turn many into one. He pays special attention to the issues of belonging, as well as to the traditional attribute of masculinity, i.e. strength (physical, military, related to work), which in a modern social organization is strengthened and trained, and at the same time subjected to discipline and control of power.
Ritszel takes up his reflection at the moment of a cultural turning point, the crisis of patriarchal modernity, which is closely related to the exhaustion of the paradigm of traditional masculinity. The social production line of modernity, operating on the line between school – gym – army – workplace, ceases to function. The exhibition opens with the premiere of “The Earth Will Swallow it All,” in which the artist, based on the example of Upper Silesia, examines the social and spiritual effects of deindustrialization and changes in the transformation era in Poland – processes included in the broader context of globalization. A big lockout follows, the big industry is liquidated, and there are collective layoffs. Millions of people have to reinvent themselves. This is especially true of men who are brought up to be part of a collective, disciplined entity. This entity is falling apart before our eyes; in the landscape of post-industrial, globalized capitalism, everyone is supposed to be the architect of his or her own fortune – and everyone is alone.
Ritszel’s works are narratives created on the border between eras: we were brought up by institutions that prepared us to live in the order that is about to end. This moment of the turning point is clearly seen in the shifting perceptions of the social roles that women and men play. Feminist critique of patriarchy has a long and rich tradition and an enormous theoretical output. Against this background, the contemporary theory of masculinity appears to be anachronistic and suffering from deficits in self-awareness and self-knowledge. The experience of postmodern masculinity is accompanied by confusion and uncertainty: how to perform one‘s identity when the old patterns are inadequate to the current reality and the new ones have not yet been developed?
In this situation, Ritszel looks for cracks in the apparent monolith of traditional masculinity. He follows the moments in which weakness comes to the fore in manifestations of power, the violence is lined with delicacy, and the allegedly unambiguous binary identity reveals its non-obvious, queer dimension. In these cracks, the artist sees potential ways out of the cultural and political crisis we find ourselves in.