Zuzana Pustaiová: One Day Every Day
22.9.–23.10.2022.
Following her participation at the Rovinj Photodays 2021. where she won the Grand Prix for the photographic series One Day Every Day (2021), Slovak photographer Zuzana Pustaiová will present the awarded project at her first solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka.
The staged photographs from the One Day Every Day series show how the ordinary man responds to the imperatives of the present lifestyle, indirectly announcing its successes and failures. Looking at the current social landscape, Zuzana Pustaiová points to the unrealistic desires that modern life imposes on people, from the ideology of healthy life, the cult of the body and social adaptability, to the general efficiency and social responsibility. Yet, she decides not to deal with these topics too seriously, as her allies are humor and playfulness and she uses them to create a world where rules are tolerable, or at least subject to change. Characters from One Day Every Day series reverse the idealized standards in favor of a genuine, ordinary everyday life in which we find the multitude of the extraordinary comic details such as multiplied artificial nails, a bunch of cigarettes in the mouth, piles of tampons and toilet paper rolls, post-its, flying pizza cuts, paper disguises. The multiplication process refers to the excessiveness of the tasks foisted on us by everyday life, so all the scenes from the photos often cross the boundaries of the comfort zone and discreetly release a glint of discomfort.
The One Day Every Day series is set at the core of social processes where torn individuals oscillate between their attempts to accommodate to desirable behaviors and useful roles and their tendencies to go beyond the established frameworks, which under the guise of diversity aim to uniformize everyone and neutralize any dissatisfaction in the process.
Dismissing the image of the present as the only possible reality, Zuzana Pustaiová’s work seems to silently analyze the image of the future, provoking our imagination and articulation of new values.
OPENING: 22/9/2022 at 7pm
Curator: Sabina Salamon
Curatorial text available on LINK.
Zuzana Pustaiová (1990, Levice, Slovakia) is one of the key members of the younger generation of emerging Slovakian photographers. In her work, she explores the topics of family and the intricacies of family relationships, as well as the conventions of social roles. She challenges different cultural stereotypes about sex, gender, age, tradition and social inclusion, using witty observations, healthy humor and direct irony. Pustaiová completed a doctoral degree at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Bratislava. She received several international awards and recognitions.
This exhibition is supported by Slovak Arts Council.
