Marianka Grabska / THE PRICE OF EMPTINESS / Windows 2021. New Phenomena series

The place I have at my disposal – an immobilized lorry – is a means of transport that no longer serves its original function. When creating an installation in this particular location, I am trying to refer to numerous lockdowns and the economic aspect of the pandemic. I witness the fascinating process of an accelerating crowdfunding machine and the budding selflessness of my generation.

As an artist, I feel the need to fill up the lorry, but I’m also tempted to show emptiness and refrain from introducing anything into the space.

However, showing “nothing” proves pointless, because we’re surrounded by deficits and shortages.

This gives rise to a reflection on price – the price we pay for our way of life, the price we pay during the pandemic, and the price of things that are simply priceless.

What price tag can we put on access to our loved ones, our audiences, our most beloved places?

What is the price of what we’ve got, our property and prosperity? What happens when we start lacking all that and find ourselves on the brink of bankruptcy?

What is the value of bringing a meal to your next-door neighbour or taking their dog for a walk during isolation?

To me, the LKW lorry is our local window vent, which is open so as to enable the presentation of artworks – and a reminder that local actions and local aid are priceless.

Marianka Grabska (b. 1994 in Gdańsk) works with sculpture, objects, installations, and socially involved art. She is a graduate of the Faculty of Sculpture and Intermedia of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. In 2018, she received the scholarship of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. Her works were shown, among others, at the following exhibitions: Three Plagues, Labirynt Gallery, Lublin; 16th International Triennial of Tapestry // Beyond Borders; 5th edition of the Young Wolves festival. In 2019, she began the Naked Nerve project as part of the Masterclass Studio with Joanna Rajkowska organized by BWA Wrocław. The artist treats her intermedia works as the easiest means of expression, which she uses to sum up subsequent stages of her life and comment on the reality around her. They offer a message adequate for the here and now, representing a commentary released into the world.