Øleg&Kaśka
Everything I Knew Has Become Yesterday's Dream
In their artistic practice Øleg&Kaśka use storytelling to create a complex environment, in which every work is interconnected and has a symbolic meaning, creating an immersive setting reminiscent of a fairy-tale but subverting the genre just enough to merge the themes and imagery of past, present and fiction.
Øleg&Kaśka, Where The Future Grows Act 1, Everything I Knew Has Become Yesterday's Dream, 2022. Photo: Antonia Rodrian / sonneundsolche, Düsseldorf.
Øleg&Kaśka, Where The Future Grows Act 2, Everything I Knew Has Become Yesterday's Dream, 2022. Photo: Antonia Rodrian / sonneundsolche, Düsseldorf.
Øleg&Kaśka, Where The Future Grows Act 3, Everything I Knew Has Become Yesterday's Dream, 2022. Photo: Antonia Rodrian / sonneundsolche, Düsseldorf.
The project Everything I Knew Has Become Yesterday's Dream (2022) is a story about fear and uncertainty of the future in the context of today’s world crises. The narrative of the story includes possible scenarios of the future, which Øleg&Kaśka envision as an escalation of violence. Rooted in the symbolism of war, medieval times and religion, the project talks about escapism and fatality while also addressing the current and predicted condition of society and environment in general.
The triptych Where the Future Grows includes three acts and three androgynous characters depicted in the “medieval-anime” style, strongly inspired by a particular manga called Berserk by Kentarō Miura. The paintings function as a linear story, but at the same time offer three different possible scenarios that the protagonist of the story can choose from. The option of choosing between different narratives resembles the idea of choosing your storyline in video games.
The installation Banner of Rebirth is inspired by Roman war banners and their subsequent Christian equivalents. Their motifs are mythological, alchemist and allegorical, symbols of the veil between the living and the dead, the merging of polarized matter and symbols of war.
Such unification of symbolism, visual references and stories speaks of the anxiety felt in present times, when escapism of one kind or another is often necessary but takes many shapes and forms. For Øleg&Kaśka, an allegorical way to speak of their generation’s worries and general state of mind is at the same time the way in which they engage their audience. They offer us a complete escapist scenery with symbols that may seem distant but are never too far from the conditions we live in.
Øleg&Kaśka, The Banner of Rebirth, Everything I Knew Has Become Yesterday's Dream, 2022. Photo: Antonia Rodrian / sonneundsolche, Düsseldorf.
Øleg&Kaśka is a collective superorganism founded in the summer of 2018. In their artistic practice they combine different media like painting, sculpture, video or fragrance to create immersive environments. Using language, which is a hybrid of mythology and pop culture, their works are rooted in the dilemmas of the Generation Z and address the responsibility to deal with the world crisis originating from the climate crisis. They graduated from The University of the Arts in Poznań in Poland in 2020 (MFA) and have exhibited their work in many institutions and galleries in Poland and abroad, such as Zacheta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, MoMA in Warsaw, :SKALA Gallery in Poznan, Gdansk City Gallery, Berlinskej Model in Prague, Spread Museum in Entrevaux, Sonneundsolche in Düsseldorf, and others.
Etc. is a annual magazine, dedicated to showcasing current artistic production from the Baltic to the Balkans.
Based in Ljubljana, Slovenia, each issue is dedicated to a relevant topic in art and life. Founded to promote emerging artists, its goal is to initiate a dialogue, inspire collaborations, and challenge set views.