Mariusz Soltysik

exTENSIONS - (1. (an example of) the act of extending or being extended; 2. (of)] a part which is added to make something longer, wider, or larger; 3.any of many telephone lines which connect various rooms or offices in a large building to the switchboard; 4. a part of a university which offers courses to people who are not full-time students: 5. also extension lead // extension cord - an electrical lead which can easily be bent and which has a plug at one end used to connect a piece of electrical equipment to the electricity supply some distance away)

I have titled the exhibition “extensions”, because it is an extension or elaboration of my ideas and thoughts through videos, photographs, objects, and drawings, with its focus on places that are temporary, evanescent, or momentary, and interesting to me. I never get used to them, yet they never leave me indifferent. They generate a very specific ambience, a kind of tension, like a waiting-room at the doctor’s, or a rather uncomfortable situation of queuing at a bus stop or on the underground, etc. There is something to them that is interesting, curious, not to be found elsewhere, and that attracts my attention. Truth be told, even some places at home, e.g. the hall, are such extensions, introductions to something. These places maintain certain momentary tension, energy, warmth, etc. Also, terminals, tunnels are in way fascinating for the transformation we undergo from conception to death. Perhaps this is why I stop to brood over these seemingly empty, not particularly interesting places and look at them with some tension.