Onone - The World After the World

"Onone came into being inspired by a dream." (Alicja
Zebrowska)

With her eyes closed, Alicja Zebrowska had a glimpse
of Onone - The World After the World, or the world before the world in
front of which one seems to be dreaming with eyes open wide. Within the realm
of the subconscious and the sublime, an individual journey becomes collective,
and the artist's psyche/body one's own. Uniting the Polish 'he' and 'she' into
one word, Onone speaks of an encounter between the Other and the Self in an
androgynous body (allegory of art), re-membered as a true home in the artist's
search for (a lost) identity. Within its corporeal and psychological borders Onone
is a reincarnation of Hermaphroditos, the fe/male child of Hermes and Aphrodite
in Greek mythology and embodiment of Jungian animus/anima, the unconscious
masculine and feminine archetypes. The utopian creature represents
spiritual/sexual healing - the release of human pain originating in the
separation of perfect archaic bisexual beings into two halves by the jealous
gods (Plato). Onone liberates (the suppressed) and transcends (social construct),
appearing as holy (ghost?), an icon to worship, a god/dess no longer fearing
(bi)sexuality, which makes 'completeness unto itself' meaningful (Autoholos,
photo). Thus created, the Garden of Eden circulates libidinal energy as the
nectar of life (Onone, video), at the same time introducing contemporary
artificiality, including implants and transparent plastic garments as a second
skin. It might be because of its grotesque horror-comic body that Onone
nevertheless needs to re-assure itself in absolute self perfection through
'Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?' (Affirmatio,
photo); and needs to re-visit the same old therapist (Freud) in the
nineteenth-century Hypnosis (photo), this time bringing along a new,
self-fertilised life. Only then is it (she) ready to move on.
Like the content of a champagne bottle that has just exploded into space, still
holding a cork in the mouth, Onone (Autonekrophagos, photo) takes on a cosmic
journey, leaving its earthly skin behind, and embracing the Self - yet to be
discovered.

Before the diverse opus of Zebrowska's work, one assumes her
upbringing in Catholic and communist Poland (woman's sexuality being the object
of political/religious manipulation) to be the conditions that made her of one
the most controversial female artists of her generation. She has shown that
'the private is political', and has shocked and disgusted audiences by
mercilessly deconstructing the patriarchal God with the tools provided by her
own body. Her vagina becomes a shameless eye gazing back at 'Him' (The Mystery
is Looking, 1994), giving birth to a 'beautiful' Barbie-doll at the site of her
'Biblical sin' (Original Sin, 1994), producing an effect of nausea instead of
pleasure. Zebrowska's social work focuses on marginalised groups, such as
homeless (Picnic for Homeless, 1994) and disabled people (Humanitarian Cases,
1994), whilst her interactive public actions bring forth the social/spiritual
malaise of post-modern times (Can You Take It in Your Hands?, 1997; We Are All Ill
within Ourselves, 1997). The artist further suggests that the identity crises
we face originate in our isolation from spiritual sources (Monitoring, 2000).
In her collaborative project with Jacek Licholn, she finally enters church(es)
in order to ambiguously merge art/spirituality, while mocking the exclusivity
of religions by continuously divorcing and re-marrying the same partner in the
name of a 'different god' (Infiltron, ongoing since 1998).
Milijana Babic

Alicja Zebrowska will show the evolution of her creative process in a video
lecture on Monday, Oct 4th, 9 pm, Kapelica Gallery.

The artist's one-day public action, Exertising, will
take place within the city of Ljubljana. Details to be announced (www.cityofwomen.org/archive).

Programme:
Onone - The World After the World
Exhibition: photo-series and video
Sept. 27-Oct. 10, Mon.-Fri.: 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Galerija Kapelica

Free admittance

Lecture:
Mon., Oct. 4, 9 p.m.: lecture with video and slide projections, Galerija
Kapelica
Consecutive interpretation from Polish to Slovene

Organisation: City of Women
In co-operation with: Galerija Kapelica
With the support of: Javno podjetje Snaga, d. o. o.