Karolina Szymanowska’s artistic work, prepared within the The Weight of Air open call, was presented during the 22nd SURVIVAL Art Review (June 2024) at the water tower in Wrocław’s Brochów district.
Szymanowska explains her work as follows:
“A flag — because it consistently evokes air for me and is a traditional symbol of power, sovereignty, and control. Human — because the work addresses issues that are both one of the causes and consequences of our (human) hegemony over the world.
That’s why the imagined human figure in this work strives for self-improvement and overcomes its weaknesses. Despite a gigantic (post-human?) effort, it demonstrates its might. I placed the flag on wheels because I needed a rover with all its symbolic weight (for example, the space race rivalry between the USSR and the USA, carried out without regard for the costs), but also with a light touch of sci-fi references. I wanted the flag to gather some of the context of travel, exploration, and the conquest of new worlds, as well as the American notion of ‘the sky is the limit.’
At the same time, however, this ‘makeshift rover’ of mine (which also recalls a ramshackle car trailer) seems closed off and disconnected from the world, carrying a certain sense of deadlock and feeling like the chewed-up remains of something.
Much like that poor water tower, which has been standing there for 120 years — untouched by war, miraculously surviving — and… slowly becoming obsolete. Not because it broke down, but because it remained in place while the world moved on. That, in fact, was my starting point. I wanted to capture that typical human drive to constantly reach higher, conquer, exploit, and discard.”
