States of focus: Aleksandra Liput

In October, as part of the States of Focus series, we will host Alexandra Liput. Each of the meetings of this series focuses on one topic, and after the screening of the films there is a conversation with invited artists, led by the curator of the series. After the screening of two short films — “WASTE” (directed by Reyndert Guiljam) and “Preoperational Model” (directed by Philip Ullman) — there will be a conversation with the invited artist, during which we will discuss the topic of new magic and contemporary totems.

The key to this encounter is the agency of objects in the spirit of the new materialism, a philosophical current in which matter is not passive, but “alive” and affects us as much as we do on it. This approach to objects also coincides with traditional magic, which assumed that totems and amulets have a soul and the power to influence reality. The juxtaposition of the works of Alexandra Liput and the two films shows the evolution of this thinking. We want to ask ourselves about a completely new magic of modern reality — no longer a soul.

WASTE (2026, directed by Reyndert Guiljam, 20 min.)

In a seedy room at the back of her small apartment, Caroline hides a slimy creature. When she tries to get rid of him, she is stopped by Jon, who feels great affection for this mysterious and magical, but also dangerous monster. In this surreal, cinematic journey by Rotterdam-based director Reyndert Guiljam, he creates a unique world in which the air feels toxic and the two protagonists seem to live in a vacuum. Away from civilization, they engage in a tense game of attraction and repulsion.

Preoperational Model (directed by Philip Ullman, 13 min.)

Princess Sophie and her maid Jessica are preparing for a new day at the royal court. Sophie's struggles with her future existence as queen turn hierarchies, role divisions and time frames upside down. It is a story about the loss of power, shown from the perspective of those who possess it.

ALEKSANDRA LIPUT (born 1989) is a visual and didactic artist. Assistant Professor in the Drawing Studio at the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. In his practice, he combines ceramics, fabric and drawing, creating multi-threaded installations. Her work takes up themes related to ancient beliefs, magical thinking and dreams. The starting point for her is the story and the myth as forms of giving meaning to the experience. She is interested in man's relationship with the material and immaterial world and how these orders interpenetrate each other. Her works have been presented at Zachęta — National Art Gallery in Warsaw, Centre for Polish Sculpture in Orońsko, Labirynt Gallery in Lublin, MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, National Museum of Art of Ukraine in Kiev and National Museum of Art of Moldova in Chisinau.

STATES OF FOCUS — a series of post-film events curated by Andrzej Marc. Each of the meetings consists of a short lecture, a film screening and a conversation with invited artists. This year, each event also has a specific theme, thematized in the film and addressed in the discussion.

The states of focus focus on the work of stitching together, merging and saving a reality intersected and torn by various, concomitant crises. The answer to the experience of a crumbling, fragmented world is no longer grand, escapist, utopian projects, but rather everyday, local, perhaps even makeshift practices of minor repairs and attempts at regeneration.

In the autumn season we will focus on:

body horror and looksmaxxing — States of focus: Marianna Rodziewicz, 16.09, 7 p.m.;

new magic and modern totems — States of concentration: Aleksandra Liput, 21.10, 7 p.m.

and bushes, skeletons and stones, that is, on the strangeness of the Anthropocene — States of concentration: Karolina Breguła, 18.11, 7 p.m.