Kronika Centre for Contemporary Art: 4xS exhibition

February 24, 2020

During a two week residency in Bytom, Poland, Laura conducted a hashtag campaign to explore how twitter can be used as a site of refresh.

#upgrade

#upgrade is concerned with how an error, or breakdown, can become a site of renewal and fluidity. This project evokes a connection between the physical and intangible, speculating on what is material and exploring systems of knowledge, or belief, and people’s experiences of them. 

It is assumed that gathering and sharing knowledge creates a better understanding of the world we live in, with information being consumed at an increasingly fast pace as a result of technological developments. Consequently, our existence on social media makes us aware of much more than we have personally experienced. The writer Walter Lippmann explains how we live in ‘second hand worlds’ (1922: p.205), this distancing from first-hand experience contributes to making false judgements of others. Or is it as the philosopher John Dewey insisted, that the only reality that matters is the reality that people collectively construct (1960)? With Bytom losing its former identity and legacy as part of a coal rich industrial empire, can social media be used to promote the community’s new modes of living and labour? Can the people of Bytom and Silesia confront stereotypes and disseminate a more contemporary cultural identity and interpretation of the region? 

#ulepszyćmiasto

#ulepszyćmiasto

#upgradethecity

Following the micro residency Laura’s work was exhibited at the gallery alongside artists from Plymouth University, Katowice Academy of Fine Art, Valand Academy in Gothenburg, and Chelsea School of Art as part of the Parallax project.