Zuzanna Czebatul: The Lunatic Fringe

For her second solo exhibition at Sans titre, Zuzanna Czebatul presents a new series of monumental tapestries, along with sculptures that recall the flooring of a church or cathedral. As with other previous works, Czebatul dips once more into art history to capture our present conditions and pursue her reflections upon hegemonic western power structures. Replacing production with reproduction, the artist resurrects unique ancient works with auratic power in the form of fragmentary facsimiles. The images depicted on the textile pieces are close-ups of ancient tapestries, dating from the Middle Ages to roughly AD 1600, created on the basis of reproductions found in books or on the Internet. On the floor, colored cement forms that imitate marble derive inspiration from a technique called opus sectile, in vogue during the Roman Empire for the creation of high-end decorative pavements. In deconstructing the material characteristics and the cultural symbols of works of the past, Czebatul reveals their hidden meanings, reminding us not only of the power of the transformation of material goods, but also of the ideologies that these latter propagate.