ONE WORK SHOW: LINDA LACH “SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS”

Opening: 28.06.2022, 18:00–22:00
Exhibition is open from 29.06.-03.07.2022, 16.00-18.00 hours, and by appointment
Linda Lach will be present in the gallery at all times during the show

Jednostka Gallery
Andersa 13 (Tekla Bądarzewska Square)
Warsaw

“Sorry for Your Loss” is the fourth in a series of One Work Show events, which are dedicated to showcasing single pieces selected from the oeuvre of Jednostka’s artists. Each item on display is unique and has not been shown in the Gallery previously. Every One Work Show offers an opportunity for viewers to focus on the detail of a work and the underlying concepts, as well as to learn the stories behind their creation.

The year 2007 witnessed an unprecedented event. To the surprise of the scientific community, the Canadian brand D-Wave staged a public demonstration of Orion – allegedly the first quantum computer. Its processor was built of aluminium and niobium using traditional lithographic techniques. Purportedly, however, it did not resemble a classic computer in any way. The ‘Miracle of Science’ could not be watched live. Instead, the participants of the demonstration could admire it on a video feed, and the machine itself executed commands given to it remotely via a laptop. There were no press releases regarding the design and operation of the device, either. In the end, Orion turned out to be just an element of news background noise. The device did exist, but it could not do quantum computing. Carefully hidden from the world, it alluded to the concept of a quantum computer, but it was not one. It intrigued by the very fact of its ‘existence’, which has remained unattainable since. Mankind has desired to create such a machine for a long time. A quantum computer seduces with a metaphysical promise. If it existed, it would be able to solve the most difficult problems and optimise complex processes in no time. Our ‘being’ would become computable. 15 years later, humanity is still waiting for the first quantum computer.

The “Sorry for Your Loss” installation consists of several hundred hand-connected recycled aluminium louvres and measures over 3 metres. The sculpture as a whole, including the mounting elements, weighs not more than 6.3 kg, which corresponds exactly to the amount of aluminium typically found in an average desktop computer. Ensuring suitable protection and ventilation, aluminium is primarily used in computer cases. It is also found in the heart of a computer – the processor – where it forms its structure.

Aluminium was also used in Orion – the supercomputer that was to herald the advent of an age of the future. By contrast, here the main purpose of the aluminium louvres was to protect against the sun. The material, which used to serve a mundane purpose, has gained a new form, that of a ballroom chandelier which will no longer shield anything and has a purely aesthetic function. Its form alludes to a reality of elegant and charming objects. The chandelier seduces with its charm, just like the idea of a quantum computer. Both use pretence and hope. The aluminium from the chandelier is still ready to be melted down to become a new computer. For now, however, it pretends to be something it is not. Just like Orion.
[Linda Lach i Sonia Jaszczyńska]

 

LINDA LACH
Born in 1995. Final year student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (graduation in September 2022). Her work explores the intersection of science and art, looking for new ways to visualize the data, by sketching graphs based on algorithms. She is interested in repetition and the human relationship with the digital world. In data, she seeks answers to questions of memory and identity in a world of false evolution, processes the acquired information by looping and splitting it.