Test Drive: Aleksandra Sidor

‘Some parts of a story’
Curatorial text by Aleksandra Sidor

Balanced Consumption & Growth Act

At some point, we decided to be more resourceful; of course, it was motivated by necessity and the occurrence of very predictable circumstances. It has been widely debated, often opposed, but when the act of the legislature became unavoidable, the riots started. Some humans were incapable of accepting the new law, especially the united front of religious practitioners, formed by, among others, many Christians, Judaists, Islamists, and Hindus. The state promoted it as a new way of embracing equality among species. The supporters' arguments were usually focused on health benefits, respect towards the deceased, but sometimes they just reiterated the state's suggestions about the restoration of balance or acquiring nature-bound knowledge. There were also devotees who lobbied for the changes in the system for years; their religious beliefs were finally affirmed.

The death care industry developed alongside the hopes and desires of people destined to become one with the planetary system. This notion provided considerable relief. It certainly reorganised their internal structure, but it wasn't overwhelming. Their consumption of the deceased was always accompanied by profound expressions of grief and respect. Now that cannibalism was institutionalised, there was no more fighting for what's right. The swift nature of interchangeable relations underlined the feelings of mutual benefit and virtuousness. People asked their loved ones for their bodies to be eaten after death and forsook even the slightest idea of their bodies not fulfilling their duties. The mutation of mourning and melancholia seemed to cease into a new sustainable mechanism; this time, it was a quicker and socially affordable one.

 

Computation of lack

The leftovers of sexual organs and other unusual erogenous zones were incorporated to perform simulations, to test the current flow of cathexis. The observations of which the machine could describe and transfer into valuable, incomprehensible to human data. The cases of stigmata were on the rise, while exorcisms weren’t socially accepted, very often considered to be a relic; but continued to be performed underground by specialised machines, which had deciphered ancient scriptures a long time ago.

The preparation for exorcism was extensive, and included abstinence from the deepest sources of pleasure, such as anthropophagy and defecation. Cleanliness was paramount, as demonic possessions were known for relishing in information, viruses and skin bacteria. The long queues seemed endless, and people grew easily exhausted while waiting for their turn, though not exhausted enough to die. Once clean and placed in the assigned cube, you would be put to sleep and dreamt. Opening the eyes to the unknown was closely directed. You could feel the fluids gathering beneath your eyelids and realise that it smells exactly like the hunger of saliva. You started to hear how the organs synchronise with the strong mechanical pulsations. You felt as if you arrived at the state where you were introduced to the spirit capable of shredding the skin. The flesh could finally be liberated from bearing guilt, and arrived somewhere beyond joy and anguish.

 

Aleksandra Sidor (b. 1991, Lublin, Poland) lives and works in Poland. Aleksandra Sidor is a Polish visual artist graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Bournemouth. She makes unsettling paintings investigating the concepts of perception, awareness, morality and trauma. Employing a highly ornamental visual language, irony and a surrealist sense of the uncanny, the artist often draws on different writings on psychoanalysis, old illustrations as well as social, cultural and political transformations. Her subject matter revolves around the transformative nature of encounters of bodies with other beings and their power relations.