Mia Milgrom / Mining the Undersense
Fait Gallery PREVIEW
24. 5. – 29. 7. 2023
Opening: 24. 5. 2023, 7 p.m.
Curator: Pavla Sceranková
Even though there is an immense distance between a supernova explosion and breathing in, they are partly conditioned by the same element, iron. The complex interconnectedness of what is happening around us can cause anxiety and awe at the same time. Mia Milgrom reflects it intuitively and as if at random through her passion for material. She sees the materials we normally know differently than we are used to; metal flows softly under her hands, soap is part of a supporting structure. The artist is preparing an installation of minimalist, mostly metal objects. The objects orbit, lead and fall. They need mutual support, they seek good connections. They show us the world in a different way.
The starting point of the exhibition was an interest in "the language of tension that arises in disturbed situations. Between the layers of organic deposits, human traces and objects accumulate, gradually decomposing, seeping into deeper layers and contaminating the soil," the artist comments. She speaks of her work through the eyes of a geologist who has an insight into "the system, the support structure that maintains the local balance."
The exhibition consists of minimalist situations that are a spatial metaphor for a supporting structure just before a fall, a balance maintained by a faulty component. Although they are all predominantly made of iron, what draws attention to each are the details of the connections. At first glance, the embedded wooden or ceramic parts are a pointless weakening of the structure. Another thing Mia Milgrom is thinking about is the unsustainability of the systems we live in. But these embedded, seemingly meaningless details are not the reason for unsustainability. On the contrary: the whole starts to fall apart only when we want to organise it, explain it, control it. "By creating nonsensical moments, we may approach narratives that offer non-linear points of departure."
Calmness and inner peace are needed to perceive the potential of non-linear starting points that promise relief. We are spinning in circles. We sense a way out of the fatigue, but we are too tired to reach for it. Mia Milgrom gives it to us in the form of a pebble that we trip over, a bump that disrupts an expected trajectory of movement. Perhaps all it takes is a little courage to accept the stumble as a new direction.
Mia Milgrom (*1996) is currently studying at the Academy of Fine Art in Prague. In parallel, she has completed internships at the Cooper Union in New York and in the studio of the visiting artist Maja Smrekar at the Academy of Art, Architecture and Design un Prague. Her work addresses the subjects of human and non-human care and support systems. Her spatial installations oscillate between fragile moments of disintegration and symbiosis of the individual parts. Combining natural and synthetic materials, she creates unexpected relationships and alternative possibilities of connection. Her work has been exhibited at the CCA as part of the 4th Triennial in Tbilisi, in the Cooper Union in New York, at the GAVU Pop-up and in the Světova 1 gallery in Prague.
Press kit and photos for the exhibition can be found here.
Media contact:
Viktorie Chomaničová
chomanicova@faitgallery.com
+420 601 327 291
www.faitgallery.com