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Marta Czok EX_PATRIA

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Scarso, Jacek Ludwig and Czok, Marta (2024) Marta Czok EX_PATRIA. [Show/Exhibition]

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Abstract

In response to the theme of the Sixtieth Venice Art Biennale "Foreigners Everywhere", Fondazione Marta Czok presents EX_PATRIA, under the patronage of the Polish Embassy in Rome: a collection of recent and historical works by Marta Czok, from the Eighties to the present day, which reflect on the construction of the concept of homeland and the ideologies that make this concept ambiguous. On the one hand, the idea of homeland conforms with the need to call a place "home" and to feel that such a home is designed to protect rights and ensure an adequate standard of living. On the other hand, the construction of this concept involves the identification of "borders", the physical and metaphorical barriers that reinforce the imaginary distinction of Self and Other.
Migration, political asylum, xenophobia and nationalist populism relate to this principle, reinforcing its symbolic meaning and the lived experience of those directly affected by this. In these works, we find a gap between those who need to leave their countries and those who have the power to determine their destiny. The politics of war, transnational bureaucracies, the impact of a global economy blur into one another, making those who remain in limbo even more vulnerable : without a place,without rights, without a home.

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