Klara Hobza

Z nurtem / Endorsed by the Drift, 2015

incident

Wisłoujście Fortress (1A), former pumping station

 

Klara Hobza’s endeavour spans the distance between the historic fortress of Wisłoujście and the defunct municipal pumping station – both represent entities whose original significance has, over the years, been skewed. The fortress is a dead monument to the past, a tourist attraction; the municipal pumping station has fallen into rack and ruin. Due to mysterious, night-time activities, both spaces come alive and, using the Morse code, embark on contact with each other. Both the fortress and the pumping station begin their text with the same words; however, it is the fortress that takes precedence with its lucid, historic narrative. The pumping station tries to match the message, but eventually, prompted by its underground current – it breaks away. The workers who emit the transmission from the station try to continue with their work in accordance to the script set by the fortress; however, finally, they give in exhausted.

Klara Hobza blends threads and languages; she shifts around fragments of reality and weaves them into new configurations, creating incidents set in the absurd. Within the loosely sketched out situation, she leaves room for the unforeseeable and failure. The idiosyncratic character of Hobza’s actions stems from her meticulous observation of the locally based reality. In an amusing manner, the artist touches upon the official versus alternative, underground movements and the circulation of energy as well as such concepts as deficit, work and progress.

Klara Hobza (b. 1975) – currently lives in Berlin; earlier she was resident in New York. Recipient of the DAAD grant from the German Academic Exchange Service. Sculpture, video, photography, drawing, performance and conceptual art. In her long-term projects (Diving through Europe, 2010-2040) the artist confronts tasks that in a sense seem absurd and obsessive but which she nevertheless carries out with great precision and determination. She raises the issues of communication, closeness and alienation. She participated in the exhibition Who makes Europe, organised in 2015 by Gdańsk City Gallery.