On 30 November 2023, Milan’s Oxilia Gallery launched “Foul Air” by Aleksandra Liput, an exhibition co-organized by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. Through the symbolism of “morose air” and beliefs associated with the plague, the artist’s works explore the themes of anxiety and trauma as well as ways of overcoming these experiences with spirituality and magical thinking. The setting of this symbol-abundant exhibition was created with the support of Dekoma.
Aleksandra Liput (born 1989) is a visual artist, creating ceramics, sculptures and installations. The exhibition features works associated with, on the one hand, harbingers of “morose air” and, on the other, talismans and remedies against it. This is a story of internalised, unsettling beliefs we all hold, of the sense of insecurity, vulnerability and loneliness. Aleksandra Liput also presents rituals that we use to deal with these difficult emotions, so that we can understand and harness the surrounding, dangerous world. Before it was opened in Milan, the exhibition premiered at the Centre for Polish Sculpture in Orońsko in 2023.
The exhibition’s curator, Dobrosława Nowak, discussed the artist’s vision on the Culture.pl web portal: “Her works, which refer to the utopian world of dreams and desires, evoke objects created by ancient tribes associated with performing activities of a magical or religious nature. In “Foul Air”, the artist has brought all these elements together, creating a space where immersion leads to, on the one hand, confronting one's fears and, on the other, understanding the power of an individual's drive to create a coherent story explaining the surrounding world.”
The exhibition’s setting employs the Spring White fabric. It was used to make a curtain, providing a backdrop for the sculptile, 3-D works of Aleksandra Liput. In the colourful light, the white fabric, just like the whole interior of the gallery, takes on the shade of blood red.
Spring is a decorative, velvet knitted fabric with a noble gloss, offering a versatile basis for interior design applications. It comes in a wide range of 50 colours.
The contribution to the “Foul Air” exhibition is one of Dekoma’s numerous activities supporting culture, arts and education. For more information, please visit: https://dekoma.eu/pl/arts-and-culture.
Fabrics from the DEKOMA collection used in the session:
Pleasant to the touch, Spring is a knitted velvet fabric with a noble gloss which is a versatile base for interior decorators. Its 280cm width makes it a perfect solution for impressive window decorations or exceptionally noble bedspreads. Spring is available in a wide range of 50 colours: shades of commercial grey, violet, pink and also azure. We suggest to use the lining when sewing window decorations. Jason collection is a 140cm wide alternative to Spring.