Catalogue Art Future

Earth works 1979 - 2008

ARCHEOLOGY OF THE FUTURE Marek Cecula

Art Project 1979 , Klepisko 2008

ARCHEOLOGY OF THE FUTURE Marek Cecula

With the knowledge that ceramics has always served history as an indicator of cultural and technological standards, I developed several art projects,

The project is a Time Capsule trans-

which were embedded in the ceramic

forming the concept, material and

artwork.

form into the future, the condition of

This catalog, documenting two site-

the structure allowing for the physi-

specific installations created in two dif-

cal changes to take a place and to

ferent periods, separated by the time

serve as the evidence of passing time,

distance of 30 years, both works repre-

slowly transcending its appearance.

sent similar intentions and serve as Time

Special

condition

was

created

Capsules having similar goals. Although

forming the work that the remaining

each installation is different in the form,

which assume a position of

elements and details will stay read-

material treatment and scale, each is a

mediators between time and

able and recognizable in the future,

part of ongoing process in using ceramic

substance.

providing an outlook on our times,

material as a vehicle in time and space.

KATONAH, NY 2008

KLEPISKO Klepisko is a Polish word for

surface floor to experience and fully experi-

The act of walking on the floor causes that

dirt or clay floor in a primitive

ence this installation.

viewer contributes to further erosion of this

country dwelling.

The floor is dense and solid but has occa-

installation by gradual wearing away clay’s

sional deep cracks about 20 inches wide,

physical surface and the embedded ele-

which show the thickness and layers of the

ments.

floor underneath the walking surface.

Breakdown and destruction of symbols

is an art-installation and physical decep-

A visitor sees in the floor composite accumu-

serves here as a warning, alerting viewers

tion space, which offers nothing to see in

lations of various clay artifacts, trophies, or-

perception about condition of our culture

conventional way we usually, observe art.

naments and instruments, he recognizes that

Klepisko is the “Archeology of the Future”

Installation is an interactive work based on

the content of the floor on which he standing,

providing paradoxical time frame in which

public participation.

consists of raw clay symbols, a heritage of the

NOW is already eroding PAST.

The visitor has to enter and walk on the clay

western civilization a landfill of our culture.

The clay floor title “Klepisko”

Marek Cecula 2008

“Klepisko” is a site-specific installation created for Katonah Museum of Art in conjunction with the exhibition “Conversations in Clay”. October 19, 2008 - January 11, 2009 Earth works 2008-1979

The floor is the earth

Earth works 2008-1979

Accumulation is a heritage

Earth works 2008-1979

Culture is the content 10

Earth works 2008-1979

KLEPISKO

MAREK CECUĹ A

A stage of deterioration Earth works 2008-1979

Culture in distress 16

Earth works 2008-1979

The land field of the past and the future

Earth works 2008-1979

TECHNICAL INFORMATION Total dimension: 12 feet x 18 feet. 2 feet high Voids dimension: about, 20 inch, 50 cm. wide and 24 inch, 60 cm. dip Material: 10 tons pulverized brick clay 20

Earth works 2008-1979

KLEPISKO - the process Two weeks before the opening of the exhibit, 20 tons of raw brick clay was delivered to the site, where a temporary studio was created on front of the Katonah Museum of Art.

Earth works 2008-1979

Many thanks to the Katonah Museum of Art, for its support, which made all this possible, to Ursula Neuman for her vision, and to all volunteers and ceramic students from State University of New York New Paltz, who contributed to this endeavor. Special acknowledgments to Edyta Cieloch who inspired, supported and added her energy to the entire process. MC

Plaster molds ware made to press the clay into

Cracks in the floor and the voids, which show

elements, which will fill the content of the

eroding with the time clay elements, slowly dis-

floor.

integrate into an enigmatic mass.

300 cubic feet of pulverized clay was spread and compressed into 2 feet high solid clay

There is nothing permanent in this installation

floor, filling 12 x 18 feet gallery especially pre-

except the material the CLAY.

pared for this installation.

Earth works 2008-1979

KLEPISKO Artist Marek Cecula is fascinated by the role clay and ceramics play in our lives and how we form relationships with this medium and objects made from it. Creating both mass-produced and unique pieces, Cecula skillfully balances art and design and creates the most intriguing and original aspects of his work within their intersection. Indeed, Cecula, working in this new nexus, has shown ceramics to be the medium in which “design, art, and craft are formed into a new substance.” 26

A groundbreaking ceramist, Cecula moves eas-

room with only an unfired solid clay floor.

earth like relics of human achievement. Visitors

ously in the past, we see our world, devoid

ily between factory and art gallery. He main-

The exhibition was on view from October

step on the condensed surface and contribute

of its living inhabitants, represented only by

tains a great interest and respect for craft tradi-

19, 2008, to January 11, 2009.

to its disintegration, thus participating in the

the vestiges of our civilization that have been

tion and has played a significant role in shifting

Klepisko is made from a thick layer of dry clay

evolution of the installation. This gradual but

covered over and hidden from view.

the balance toward aesthetics and concepts

approximately 20 inches (50 cm) thick. More

inexorable breakdown of the floor and the ex-

Cecula is intrigued by the cycles of construction

rooted in industrial production. Rejecting the

than 19 tons of clay was brought to the muse-

posure of what it hides is a metaphor for the

and obliteration through which the structures

anonymous uniformity of mass-produced,

um from a local source in Westchester County.

unintended and almost casual way in which

and objects of our age are broken down and

functional ceramic objects, Cecula explores

Styrofoam molds were placed in the room as

man, in his pursuit of knowledge, destructively

concealed until a new cycle of natural or man-

and develops alternatives to the negative asso-

the clay was distributed evenly on the floor and

interacts with culture and traditions.

made destruction brings them back to light.

ciations of industry with craft, art, and design.

compacted into a solid surface. The Styrofoam

We glimpse Cecula’s hand-built broken parts

Clay, with its intimate and continually evolving,

For his site-specific installation created for the

was later removed to form pre-planned cracks

of cups and saucers, ornamental decorations,

inextricable association with human culture, is

Katonah Museum of Art’s exhibition Conver-

- two deep crevasses - in which the artist placed

and classic artifacts, such as fragments of col-

the central element for expressing those ideas.

sations in Clay, Cecula chose the title Klepisko

compressed clay objects he made on location.

umns and building cornices. These familiar

In a space without outside references, Klepisko

- the name for the dirt or clay floor found in

When viewers walk on the smooth, dry surface,

objects from Western culture are in an ad-

is a work that provides a thought-provoking

simple country dwellings in his native Poland.

they see that the layers beneath it reveal icons

vanced stage of decomposition, providing an

journey of unexpected discovery.

Building upon his abiding interest in the role

and symbols - from the mundane to the monu-

“Archaeology of the Future.” In a paradoxical

Ursula Ilse-Neuman

of clay in human history, Cecula filled an entire

mental - which are buried and decaying in the

time frame in which the present is simultane-

Guest Curator Earth works 2008-1979

ART PROJECT 79

La Jola Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, 1979 Curitiba region of Parana is an area rich in clay deposits, full of diverse ceramic industries and clay shops.

the place and the artistic interpretation of local recourses. In this remote area, 15 km from the capital town of Curitiba, I found a site with a vertical cut in

During my stay in that region, I decided to cre-

the side of the hill, which was a preparation for

ate ceramic work directly in the environment

a new road. There was a large indented geome-

and to produce ceramic installation, which se-

tric mark, which became an inspiration, a form

rves as a time capsule marking the specifics of

and the raw material for the Art Project 79.

Earth works 2008-1979

THE PLEACE

THE CONTENT

THE MATERIAL

THE FORM

TRANSFORMATION

THE INFORMATION

THE ELEMENTS

RECONSTRUCTION

Earth works 2008-1979

THE INTERFACE

Art Project 79

Clay (the material) was removed from

Fired bricks were transported to the project’s

the earth’s geometric formation found on

site and built into the empty space, from which

a vertical bank of a local dirt road. This

they originally came in the form of raw clay.

material was transformed (pressed) into

The whole structure was fused solely by wet

1140. standard clay bricks in the nearby

clay to give to natural erosion and disintegra-

brick factory. Each brick was imprinted

tion of the wall due to time.

with the logo ART PROJECT 79 and the

Each individual brick will carry from now on

outlines (contours) of the shape from the

in to the future the permanent information

wall formation, than the bricks were fired

and data of this project, as a document in the

to 1050c in the factory’s kilns.

ARCHEOLOGY OF THE FUTURE.

Marek Cecula

TECHNICAL INFORMATION Natural raw clay deposit turned into1140 bricks, fired to in Jerroca brick factory. Mortar: clay, sand and water. Dimension: 3.5 x 2.80 x 3m dept: 30cm

Art Project 79. was created in the Fall of 1979. Thanks to my brazilian friends Gilberto, Basia Rosenman, Mocha Hershkovich and others who contributed to the project.