Photo: press materials

Maurycy Gomulicki has created a modern-day Obelisk, meant to be a counterbalance for the Medieval pillory in the Square as the artist attempts to counterbalance the grim associations of the object with a work that carries an entirely divergent message

This pillory is the reference point for the artist's project in his attempt to counterbalance the grim associations of the object with a work that carries an entirely divergent message.

"Poznań's Market Square is special for a number of reasons," notes Gomulicki, explaining,

Alongside all that which is interesting, albeit predictable, we can also find the unexpected modernist implant - meaning the Arsenał contemporary art gallery, in particular its geometric facade - in a place basically dedicated to the past. The next notable site are the townhouses along the western part of the architectural 'island' that takes up the centre of the square, integrating fantasy with reality in a playful way. Finally, a bold point on the map of wonders and curiosities is maintained by this pillory from the late Middle Ages - an object of powerful symbolism and yet simultaneously extremely synthetic in form.

For me the work is an opportunity to contest yet another icon of suffering and humiliation and create a parallel monument in praise of vitality and joy," says Gomulicki. "The installation is based on the polarised mirror images of the two protagonists: the pillar of martyrdom and the pink obelisk. The two phallic symbols carry a completely different message: one terrible and the other pleasurable. The brutality of steel bolt is counterbalanced by the candy-pink of the contemporary structure reminiscent of a chess pawn. Humiliation versus Blooming, the past versus today.

The obelisk designed by Gomulicki is, like most of his projects, pink.

Pink appears a natural and fitting choice for a number of reasons. I rely on the fetishistic potential, not the obvious association with a sex toy, but its universally sensual aspect. We have a graceful, abstract form that refers to the beauty of the aforementioned form in the same way as to the hedonist 'palace' aesthetic - sculpted columns, balustrades and ornaments that we so enjoy touching. I believe in the potential of beauty, pleasure, joy. In the nobility of geometry. The rest is an experiment.

The work will be presented on July 7, 2010, 6:00pm, accompanied by an electro concert performed by Staniszewski and Ilian Gonzalez. It will be on display until October 1, 2010. 

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Arsenał Municipal Gallery in Poznań

Stary Rynek 3, Arsenał, 61-772 Poznań
Director: Wojciech Makowiecki
tel. (+48 61) 852 95 01
(+48 61) 852 95 02
fax (+48 61) 852 95 01

link*www.arsenal.art.pl*http://www.arsenal.art.pl** **Source: press materials.