Doing nothing does not mean nothing is being done, reads a quote from Tao Te Ching. The exhibition In Praise of Boredom features work that adopts a stoical, even nonchalant, approach to the passage of time.
In an era of maximum productivity, doing nothing verges on heroism. So many of us check smartwatches every night for the number of steps made during the day. Posting casual photos from holidays and restaurants on social media may turn into a source of income. In such a world, doing nonsense things becomes an almost revolutionary gesture. Josep Maynou has chosen to strive for mastery in “wasting” time. Without showing the actor, his performances-for-camera document hours of attempts to perform utterly useless activities, such as closing the door with a tennis ball, throwing a bottle into a wellington boot, or hitting a target with a toilet brush. Watching short videos (albeit resulting from lengthy trials) on his Instagram profile may make you feel like cheering for a person bold enough to laugh in the face of the modern production regime instead of clocking in at a corporate job.
Such glorious unproductivity is also present in the work of the late Zygmunt Rytka, an intermedia artist affiliated with the Polish neo-avant-garde movement in the 1970s and with the independent artistic scene of the 1980s. Rytka could masterfully stare at the clouds or flowing water, spend hours watching how the shadow changed of something standing next to a slowly burning candle. His works, such as the film Available Time, shown in the exhibition, and the Photovision series (1978–1983), created by photographing the TV screen, place focus on the process, and not the outcome. Seen with hindsight, Rytka’s pieces, originating from a markedly different political and social realm (the communist era in Poland with its stagnation and expectation of an inevitable change), may be understood in a similar way to Maynou’s modern-day work – as a representation of an escapist technique, a secretive, countercultural guerrilla struggle.
For nearly twenty years, Małgorzata Szymankiewicz has been creating abstract compositions that negate the rapid dynamics of changing trends and fashions. She describes her paintings as processual, time-consuming and unhurried, not far-removed from the tenets of slow art. Her most recent works do not comment directly on the surrounding reality, but mark a return to forms created using a special kind of painterly process with its own unique pace – one that involves adding multiple individual layers of paint, thus offering overstimulated eyes a chance to rest. Hours can be spent in front of such paintings: practising mindfulness, discerning tiny differences, nuances, and changeful rhythms. These works want to free the artist and the viewer from the pressure to hurry up. Szymankiewicz explains: “I give a painting as much time as it needs, my patience is endless, which at the same time questions the universal pressure of achieving productivity and novelty, felt also in the field of art. I convert my time into colour and composition. Time materialises in my painting, transformed into the painting’s presence”.
One of her pieces in the exhibition is a clear nod to Zygmunt Rytka’s photographic work, although this is not the only reference that matters for Szymankiewicz. Her predominant focus is “exposure time”, so vital for analogue photography. The artist approached this question like a painter, exposing her work to harsh sunlight throughout the summer, which led to its gradual fading, thus completing its conceptual sense, inviting new meanings and metaphors.
In Praise of Boredom serves to encourage viewers’ inefficient approach to time and abandonment of their pursuit of agency and results. Freed from compulsion, art becomes a form of philosophical reflection, finally allowing thoughts to float freely like clouds.
JOSEP MAYNOU’s multidisciplinary approach comes together as a form of contemporary storytelling that situates itself beyond the traditional art formats, often leading to installations in places such as TV repair shops, private apartments, abandoned spaces, laundromats or second-hand stores. His rugs, like his posters or his lamps are inevitably transfigured when they enter the space of contemporary art but, once again, they become everyday objects and props for his performances.
Josep Maynou (b.1980, based in Berlin) studied Fine Arts at UB (Barcelona), Facultade Belas Artes Porto (Porto) and Middlesex University (London). He cooperates with Bombon Project, Barcelona.
Solo shows include: CHULETAS, Bombon projects, Barcelona, 2023; Point of Light Papitu, Centro Párraga, Murcia (2022); SELF BAZAR, UNA Galleria,
Piacenza (2021); This must be the place, L+S Projects, Porto (2020); To bow at the beginning not at the end, Collection Born, Munique (2019); 13, Idealfrühstück, Paris (2019); LE LUCKY, HVW8, Berlin (2019); The Return of the Junker. JM2000, Bombon projects, Barcelona (2019); Populaire, Lehman&Silva, Porto (2019); Leisure, Bombon Projects, Barcelona (2017); Thing1, Thing2, Broken Dimanche, Berlin (2017); Things: To do, Beverly’s, NYC (2017) or The Ninja from Marrackech, Galerie Suvi Lehtinen, Berlin (2015). Recent group shows include:Worlds within Worlds, HDLU,Zagreb (2023); OMNIBUS,Kinderhook&Caracas, Berlin (2022); For some bags under the eyes, Sans titre, Paris (2021); Dança de Retorno, Lehmann + Silva, Porto (2021); Indoor Images, Pas une Orange, Barcelona (2021); Thundercage. Edition 19, Paris (2020); THIS MUST BE THE PLACE, L+S Projects, Porto (2020); Textus ex Machina. Cu, aqb PROJECT SPACE, Budapest (2919); Hunter of World, Salts, Basel (2018); Supersimetrica, Matadero, Madrid (2018); How to do things…, Lehmann + Silva, Porto (2017); Black garden, Galería L21, Palma de Mallorca (2013); Alpina huus, Le Commun, Geneve (2017); A Lovers Discord, Moca, London (2016); Warped Miami, GSL Projekt, Miami Basel, Miami (2015) or The inclination of the jungle, Junefirst Gallery, Berlin (2015). Recent performances include ONE NIGHT DANCE, SPACED OUT x PSM Gallery, Brandenburg (2020); ENSEMBLE, survivre maintenant, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2019); TIME, The Institute for Endotic Research, Berlin (2019); Pane Per Poveri, Laatrac, Athens (2017); Making Public Program, Fundació Tapies, Barcelona (2017) and Material Art fair at Mexico City (2016).
ZYGMUNT RYTKA was an intermedia artist associated with the Polish neo-avant-garde scene of the 1970s and the independent art scene of the 1980s. His oeuvre features photographic cycles, experimental films, and video works, as well as installations and objects, the latter after 2000. He was closely associated with the Mała Gallery in Warsaw and the Wschodnia and FF galleries in Łódź. Rytka co-founded the In Situ Contemporary Art Foundation, based originally in Podkowa Leśna and later in Sokołowsko. In his oeuvre, he combined a philosophical and artistic study of nature and perception with an ironic reflection on contemporary media and politics. His documentation of the art scene of which he was an active participant is fascinating. Rytka was born in Warsaw on 11 March 1947 and died in Sokołowsko on 23 March 2018. More
MAŁGORZATA SZYMANKIEWICZ -> bio
Doing nothing does not mean nothing is being done, reads a quote from Tao Te Ching. The exhibition In Praise of Boredom features work that adopts a stoical, even nonchalant, approach to the passage of time.
In an era of maximum productivity, doing nothing verges on heroism. So many of us check smartwatches every night for the number of steps made during the day. Posting casual photos from holidays and restaurants on social media may turn into a source of income. In such a world, doing nonsense things becomes an almost revolutionary gesture. Josep Maynou has chosen to strive for mastery in “wasting” time. Without showing the actor, his performances-for-camera document hours of attempts to perform utterly useless activities, such as closing the door with a tennis ball, throwing a bottle into a wellington boot, or hitting a target with a toilet brush. Watching short videos (albeit resulting from lengthy trials) on his Instagram profile may make you feel like cheering for a person bold enough to laugh in the face of the modern production regime instead of clocking in at a corporate job.
Such glorious unproductivity is also present in the work of the late Zygmunt Rytka, an intermedia artist affiliated with the Polish neo-avant-garde movement in the 1970s and with the independent artistic scene of the 1980s. Rytka could masterfully stare at the clouds or flowing water, spend hours watching how the shadow changed of something standing next to a slowly burning candle. His works, such as the film Available Time, shown in the exhibition, and the Photovision series (1978–1983), created by photographing the TV screen, place focus on the process, and not the outcome. Seen with hindsight, Rytka’s pieces, originating from a markedly different political and social realm (the communist era in Poland with its stagnation and expectation of an inevitable change), may be understood in a similar way to Maynou’s modern-day work – as a representation of an escapist technique, a secretive, countercultural guerrilla struggle.
For nearly twenty years, Małgorzata Szymankiewicz has been creating abstract compositions that negate the rapid dynamics of changing trends and fashions. She describes her paintings as processual, time-consuming and unhurried, not far-removed from the tenets of slow art. Her most recent works do not comment directly on the surrounding reality, but mark a return to forms created using a special kind of painterly process with its own unique pace – one that involves adding multiple individual layers of paint, thus offering overstimulated eyes a chance to rest. Hours can be spent in front of such paintings: practising mindfulness, discerning tiny differences, nuances, and changeful rhythms. These works want to free the artist and the viewer from the pressure to hurry up. Szymankiewicz explains: “I give a painting as much time as it needs, my patience is endless, which at the same time questions the universal pressure of achieving productivity and novelty, felt also in the field of art. I convert my time into colour and composition. Time materialises in my painting, transformed into the painting’s presence”.
One of her pieces in the exhibition is a clear nod to Zygmunt Rytka’s photographic work, although this is not the only reference that matters for Szymankiewicz. Her predominant focus is “exposure time”, so vital for analogue photography. The artist approached this question like a painter, exposing her work to harsh sunlight throughout the summer, which led to its gradual fading, thus completing its conceptual sense, inviting new meanings and metaphors.
In Praise of Boredom serves to encourage viewers’ inefficient approach to time and abandonment of their pursuit of agency and results. Freed from compulsion, art becomes a form of philosophical reflection, finally allowing thoughts to float freely like clouds.
JOSEP MAYNOU’s multidisciplinary approach comes together as a form of contemporary storytelling that situates itself beyond the traditional art formats, often leading to installations in places such as TV repair shops, private apartments, abandoned spaces, laundromats or second-hand stores. His rugs, like his posters or his lamps are inevitably transfigured when they enter the space of contemporary art but, once again, they become everyday objects and props for his performances.
Josep Maynou (b.1980, based in Berlin) studied Fine Arts at UB (Barcelona), Facultade Belas Artes Porto (Porto) and Middlesex University (London). He cooperates with Bombon Project, Barcelona.
Solo shows include: CHULETAS, Bombon projects, Barcelona, 2023; Point of Light Papitu, Centro Párraga, Murcia (2022); SELF BAZAR, UNA Galleria,
Piacenza (2021); This must be the place, L+S Projects, Porto (2020); To bow at the beginning not at the end, Collection Born, Munique (2019); 13, Idealfrühstück, Paris (2019); LE LUCKY, HVW8, Berlin (2019); The Return of the Junker. JM2000, Bombon projects, Barcelona (2019); Populaire, Lehman&Silva, Porto (2019); Leisure, Bombon Projects, Barcelona (2017); Thing1, Thing2, Broken Dimanche, Berlin (2017); Things: To do, Beverly’s, NYC (2017) or The Ninja from Marrackech, Galerie Suvi Lehtinen, Berlin (2015). Recent group shows include:Worlds within Worlds, HDLU,Zagreb (2023); OMNIBUS,Kinderhook&Caracas, Berlin (2022); For some bags under the eyes, Sans titre, Paris (2021); Dança de Retorno, Lehmann + Silva, Porto (2021); Indoor Images, Pas une Orange, Barcelona (2021); Thundercage. Edition 19, Paris (2020); THIS MUST BE THE PLACE, L+S Projects, Porto (2020); Textus ex Machina. Cu, aqb PROJECT SPACE, Budapest (2919); Hunter of World, Salts, Basel (2018); Supersimetrica, Matadero, Madrid (2018); How to do things…, Lehmann + Silva, Porto (2017); Black garden, Galería L21, Palma de Mallorca (2013); Alpina huus, Le Commun, Geneve (2017); A Lovers Discord, Moca, London (2016); Warped Miami, GSL Projekt, Miami Basel, Miami (2015) or The inclination of the jungle, Junefirst Gallery, Berlin (2015). Recent performances include ONE NIGHT DANCE, SPACED OUT x PSM Gallery, Brandenburg (2020); ENSEMBLE, survivre maintenant, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2019); TIME, The Institute for Endotic Research, Berlin (2019); Pane Per Poveri, Laatrac, Athens (2017); Making Public Program, Fundació Tapies, Barcelona (2017) and Material Art fair at Mexico City (2016).
ZYGMUNT RYTKA was an intermedia artist associated with the Polish neo-avant-garde scene of the 1970s and the independent art scene of the 1980s. His oeuvre features photographic cycles, experimental films, and video works, as well as installations and objects, the latter after 2000. He was closely associated with the Mała Gallery in Warsaw and the Wschodnia and FF galleries in Łódź. Rytka co-founded the In Situ Contemporary Art Foundation, based originally in Podkowa Leśna and later in Sokołowsko. In his oeuvre, he combined a philosophical and artistic study of nature and perception with an ironic reflection on contemporary media and politics. His documentation of the art scene of which he was an active participant is fascinating. Rytka was born in Warsaw on 11 March 1947 and died in Sokołowsko on 23 March 2018. More
MAŁGORZATA SZYMANKIEWICZ -> bio