Massacre of Mediocrity – Poetry Collection and Graphic Art Exhibition! (2008)

Venue: Pungert, Kranj
Date of the event: 13.05.2008
Attendance: 0

Masaker povprečja! That’s what they called it: an exhibition of a short poetry collection presented as graphic works, on view from May 10 to 20 at Pungert in Kranj. The concept and the texts, which lean on Siddharta’s song “Il A Modras” (from the album Petrolea, 2006), came from Klemen Globočnik, while the graphic works were created by designer Matic Zorman.

As Klemen puts it, the lyrics come from the (post-)teenage years and the feelings that flood us back then. And when we’re searching for things to identify with and for our own selves in that period, music leaves its mark too.
The main message of the exhibition was: UBIJMO POVPREČNOST! (KILL MEDIOCRITY!) So Matic and Klemen built on ideas that go beyond everyday frames and are different in one way or another. The inner structure of “Masaker povprečja” is made up of five chapters, named after words from the track “Il A Modras”.

Siddharta – “Il A Modras” (Petrolea, 2006)

Znanje
surovina za motor
je kodirano a klik ustvari kaos in teror
Bizar
je postal obligator
a ne loči kaj je pizda in kaj umazana gospa
Rafal
del vsake ulice
del ubite kritike
cilja da podre

Vedno bolj umira modra zibelka
Vedno bolj umira nam razum
Kaj jim bomo rekli ko pridejo po nas
Je ta minuta že bila

The first chapter, titled “Modra zibelka”, consists of a prologue and some thoughts on the whole. The second part, “Gobe zla”, presents personified designs of real mushrooms, bearing the titles “Kaos”, “Teror”, “Bizar”, “Obligator”, “Pizda”, “Umazana gospa”. The next chapter, “Rafal”, ties into the previous one, as it depicts their deeds – “Stranpot”, “V naročju pozabe”, “Kapsula spak”, “Kontradikcija² = Absurd”, “Rdeči semaforji”, “Socialna osama”.
“Stran od sivih muk” or “Krog zla” shows the consequences of “Rafal”. The closing chapter, “Ubite kritike”, wraps up with “Eksekutorji povprečja” and a note of thanks.

It was an interesting exhibition in an idyllic setting, held as part of Kranj’s Youth Week. With their texts and graphic works, Klemen and Matic really pushed past the usual limits. The bizarre, grotesque depictions of “people” give you the creeps, but at the same time make you wonder why they’re shown this way. Going by the opening part of the exhibition, the closest explanation is the chaos of emotions that sweeps over us in our teenage years. That’s the time when we keep discovering new and newer things and experiment with every substance imaginable. Quite a few people lingered a bit longer in front of some of the prints, since everyone could spot a little piece of themselves in at least one of them. Interesting, but true. And one thing still holds: those who want to see must look with the heart – what matters is invisible to the eye (in the words of A. de Saint Exupéry from the book The Little Prince).

Text: Lea Lesar
Photos: Lea Lesar, Bojan Okorn, graphics provided by Klemen Globočnik

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