Nights of museums

"Slaves of Pleasure"

The installation is a narrative about the contemporary Narcissus – the Consumer. In his video art, the artist presents the Narcissus-consumer to the audience in his final, most self-absorbed and egotistical stage. The young man's self-love leads to his self-destruction. In this context, the pink matter is a metaphor for this process; it initiates the event by arousing desire, then intensifies it, which becomes apparent when the young man synchronizes with it in a sensual dance, until he is ultimately consumed by it, leaving nothing behind. The entire process is well illustrated by the words of Canadian poet and writer Anne Carson: “For in this dance the people make no moves. It is desire that moves” (Anne Carson "Eros the Bittersweet", Wydawnictwo Sic!, Warsaw 2020, p. 28). It is a view of our civilization of excess, where pleasure is no longer a respite but becomes a cocoon in which we lose ourselves and our relationships with others.

Credits:

Director / Producer – Michał Jackowski
Actor/Model – Gabriel Piotrowski
Post-production – Robert Roball Burzyński, Paweł Ławreszuk, Gabriel Piotrowski
Puppet Animators – Michał Jarmoszuk, Maciej Zalewski, Jacek Dojlidko
Music – Franciszek Jackowski
Vocals – Michał Gieniusz
Kaval Flute – Jacek Grekow
Make-up – Marta Lewkowska
Production Assistant – Rafał Supiński