łódź/boat

A Room with a view - Beata Seweryn

"It's almost like seaside" - sighs the protagonist of Peter Zelenka's Tales of Common Insanitywhile looking at concrete airport ground. Wide open spaces cause admiration and are the source of relaxation. An empty runway can serve urban dreamers as a substitute of the deep sea. A sudden longing for open perspective, a willingness to look at the horizon can fool anyone. A quite different thing happened to Monika Drożyńska. First there was a ship. The huge vessel did not come unexpectedly, it did not suddenly rise outside the window. For many months before it had seemed that something was going to show up. Nobody knew how monumental and indivertible it would be. The boat was moored, calmly changing the existing perspective. There are slight chances for it to ever sail away. The intruder's foundations are too solid. The alien form occupies central location in the city, taking the leading position in the urban space. A flat with a view of a ship. In order to gain the lost territory back, Monika Drożyńska has used a trick. She was prepared for this unfair battle against the intruder, equipped with a painting as a tool.

Thanks to trompe d'oeil, a deception of the eye, an illusion, one can play with space for his or her own, private use. Monika Drożyńska got herself a private sea in order to explain the existence of the boat outside her window. A wall mural is a simple yet brilliant antidote, a perfect substitute for the deformed landscape. It has a flexible range of uses depending on needs. Drożyńska's design is a prototype worth introducing into mass production, suitable for all victims of sudden and wild transformation of the city. It does not form a hermetic barrier, or separate us from the reality - it only slightly transforms it.
It is safe, portable, temporary and can be destroyed. It belongs to the same ecosystem as other urban pictures: banners, billboards, posters and remains in a symbiotic relationship with them. The plastic mirage opens new horizons over the growing city, over the new roofs, terraces, kiosks, buildings and boats.