It is not night, yet, Kunsthalle Bratislava 2021

Katarzyna Krakowiak?s social acoustic sculpture uses the cathartic power of laughter to unsettle and ridicule patriarchy and discrimination. It expresses solidarity and support for women, whose fundamental rights are ever more frequently denied.
Curator: Lýdia Pribišová
Through the walls and facades of Kunsthalle Bratislava in SNP Square mass laughter ?explodes?. Its source is in thousands of recordings of the laughter of women, men, and all others who support equal rights and freedom. These recordings, to which people from diverse countries have contributed, create one concerted voice that speaks out against injustice, exclusion and oppression. The project follows the mode of work adopted in Krakowiak?s work It Begins With One Word. Choose Your Own (2020) at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona. Responding to the situation of the pandemic and lockdown, she announced an open call for words that people worldwide wished to make last and take responsibility for. The submitted words combined to form a polyphonic composition, a structure that tied together the architectural and the linguistic. Expanding the meaning of architecture through language, the artist generated a collectively shaped social sculpture.

 

In Bratislava, Krakowiak has created a monumental sound bridge uniting people in order to let emotions flow freely. As a natural reflex that exists beyond language, laughter accompanies situations where words no longer work. Its atavistic, almost animal force and energy mobilises and unites communities. It is precisely what we need in a time of crisis, when rights are trodden underfoot and freedoms violated. Laughter is a universal human language, which brings positive energy and hope during a long period of depression. The current situation is not by any means easy, just as the laughter resounding from the Kunsthalle Bratislava building is not effortless. Let us overcome anxiety and laugh out loud! Sound is invisible, and so is the power of laughter. It is more persuasive than a thousand words. Katarzyna Krakowiak?s installation broadcasts a powerful message of collective power, mutual support and hope.

 

When people laugh, they change their perspective on the world and thereby also change the world. Laughter unites. It is almost impossible to keep your distance and uphold the hierarchical rules of the society when laughter makes you gasp for breath. It is a democratising force. The laughing human being drops their mask and steps out of the roles played in ordinary life. By emotions experienced with others, by laughing together, the distance between people is reduced.[1] Laughter touches our emotional core, it changes people?s disposition to a more altruistic one. As we know, laughter has a therapeutic power; it brings relief from pain and lowers stress levels. There is even a laughter yoga, which helps thousands of people to deal with stress and health problems.[2] Gelotology (from the Greek gelos, laughter) is a science that studies laughter and its effects on the body from a psychological and physiological perspective. Its adherents often champion the therapeutic use of laughter in alternative medicine.