Dissonance Spectrum (2024)
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Embroidery on silk, screenprint on silk, digital print on cotton, steel, wood
Performance during the opening of the 46th Nordic Contemporary Craft Biennial at Galleri F 15 in Moss, Norway
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Curated by Anne Klontz & Maria C. Havstam
Production assistance: Aleksandra Nenko, Irena Woźnicka
Performers: Piotr Chrzanowski, Miłosława Pesta
Research assistant: Miłosława Pesta
Video: Velvl R. Parker
Photos: Eivind Lauritzen / Galleri F 15

Dissonance Spectrum is a series of banners by Kamil Kak created as a critique of European politics. The focal point of the series is the work Membrane 5A which relates to media consolidation and sets the foundation for an expanded critique, particularly about the war in Ukraine as seen through Polish media. Kak captures the nuanced manipulation of narratives where support and criticism of Ukraine are intertwined with national interests and media bias offering a multifaceted view of political representation through protest imagery, symbolic references to the European Union, and depictions of conflict and (lack of) solidarity. Expanding on Membrane 5a, Kak has created additional banners, each symbolically reviewing the hypocrisy visible in current European politics. Membrane 5a reflects the labor-intensive process of embroidery on silk which is then juxtaposed against industrialized digital printing techniques on cotton. A visible dichotomy is created where the fine quality of silk and hand-made meet the rough, almost aggressive finish of the other banners. Such contrasts underline the refined and the crude aspects of political discourse. The banners were activated during a performance by Kak during the opening of 46th Tendencies, where performers replicate political gestures and blend them into the choreography, embodying the fervor and rhetoric of often deranged political expressions. (Text by Anne Klontz)