Various objects, different sizes, 2019
The ‘cult of happiness’ as some may call it, is a controversial neoliberal phenomenon that has infiltrated the mindsets of our contemporary society, led by the hyper-insistent premise that encourages the constant need for pleasurable stimulants, indulgences and social correction. If we would take on Michel Foucault’s conceptualization of the use of pleasure as an apparatus or vessel for transformation and social metamorphosis, surely we would concur that this particular notion can be used in diverse applications that may not necessarily be in the service of progress or self-awareness.
The attempt of creating an artwork that produces aesthetic and contextual comfort fails to be delivered in this particular work. Artistic frustration, in this case, is embodied through the lack of desire to distribute adequate and enticing works of art. What Mladen Stilinović had referred to as the ‘Praise of Laziness’ in terms of artistic modes of production, here would be called the ‘Praise of Redundant Gains’ – desire as the ultimate mode of production. The work All of those constructs they made you call pleasure is a blunt, senseless outburst of creation. Its context revolves only around the anxiety produced by the constant desire for pleasure and relief. It is a cynical, clinical and ridiculous commentary on our constant pursuit of reasonable amounts of satisfaction through various mundane actions, object-relations and conceptual triggers.
