Julia Wiśniewska
1 / 5
And especially understand the present moment: now the hour has come for you to arise from sleep
"And especially understand the present moment: now the hour has come for you to arise from sleep"
Currently, a method is being sought to completely reduce the need for sleep in humans. Noteworthy, it is not just about developing the ability to stay awake for long periods of time. Such a solution would not satisfy the needs of a perpetually active world, functioning continuously 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Today the emphasis is primarily on the activity of the individual. Remaining without sleep must be associated with the preservation of all cognitive and mental functions, and thus translate into productivity and efficiency. Thus, in essence, the idea is to create a human being demonstrating superhuman abilities, a human being resistant to fatigue, preserved against the passage of time.
The problems and phenomena discussed above provided the impetus for a visual illustration of the problem of the appropriation of our time by the capitalist-consumptionist machine, in whose ceaselessly active mechanism humanity has been harnessed today. According to J. Crary's observations, today we are facing a gradual reduction in the time spent sleeping. At the beginning of the 20th century, people slept an average of 10 hours a night, a generation ago it was 8 hours, and today it is a mere 6.5. The purpose of rest also seems to be different. Today it is mainly to contribute to productivity. One may wonder, then, whether it is sleep that today is not the last of the natural obstacles appearing on the "road to the full realization of the 24/7 system"?
The thesis presented here consists of 4 video projections. As an exemplification of the issue taken up here, I decided to use the image of bees - a well-known symbol of work. The video showing bees during the daily ritual of working on a honeycomb was multiplied and looped to emphasize the uninterrupted activity, absurd monotony and continuity of work. The integrating element of the individual recordings is the sound recording of the sounds of the working swarm. The sight of a bee fighting a battle on the brink of life and death makes us focus on the individual. Its struggle expressed by the last involuntary reflexes of life constitutes a symbolic epitaph.
Raising the problem of the appropriation of our time, I simultaneously refer to the problem of the negative impact exerted on nature by the modern, profit- and consumption-oriented world reducing the honeybee to the role of a "worker" who is expected above all to perform efficiently. Complementing the main message is a video recorded in early autumn showing the flower of the Canadian goldenrod. This extremely invasive plant, which blooms in late summer and early autumn, was brought to Europe in the 17th century. Thanks to its late flowering period, it is used by beekeepers to artificially extend the pollination period.
In my work, the image of the beetle is accompanied by a video showing the following phases of yawning. Yawning as a state between sleep and waking - the phase of suspension between what was and what will be is a natural reflex that occurs in humans both before sleep and during waking. The struggle between sleep and waking, takes place before our eyes every day....
1) Source: Romans 13:11a