Tinder mandala

Tinder mandala was realized as part of the Transgresje Festival: Calm, curated by Maria Niemyjska. The concept assumed joint/dialogical laying of mosaic from ceramic waste (old tiles). This material was partially obtained from the abandoned movie theater “Grunwald” in Toruń, where the festival took place.

Transgresje Festival began on 27/09/2018. This date is particularly close to me, because four years earlier the opening of Galeria Miłość (www.galeriamilosc.pl) took place – an initiative that I established together with Piotr Lisowski. Currently, the gallery has suspended its activity, and the constitutive and driving force of this relationship – love – has changed its dimension. Separation, acceptance of changes and accompanying reflections constitute a personal background and reasons for the initiation of this artistic action.

Participants of the arranged situation were selected mainly through the Tinder dating application. This portal is unofficially listed as a quick tool for acquiring sexual partners. The concept involved arranging a specific date during which I composed a mosaic with a newly acquainted person. One of the criteria for the selection of partners was the agreement to make sincere conversations about relationships – experiences and dreamed love, needs, breakups, etc. The main assumption was to create for the invited people a space of comfort and discretion in which intimate conversations may occur. For the sake of the project, as well as the preservation of the freedom and anonymity of its creators, I gave up various forms of recording. I also decided that the mandala would be the only formal representation of these meetings.

The final diameter of the mandala is 90 cm, and about 10 people participated in the action. They were both women and men, people with children, as well as people from outside Poland. A single session of joint laying usually lasted about 3 hours. The meetings went very different. Sometimes the talks flowed rapidly and intensively, and sometimes they naturally fell silent, giving full focus to the laying of the mosaic. Sometimes it was embarrassing, and at other times surprisingly at ease.

translation: Pamela Cora

photos: Transkrypcja Wizualna Rzępolińska