A domestic device
Mechanic prosthesis,
With a touch of muscle power
Fed by flesh and blood,
Or the ambivalence
Of a hybrid machine-body
Under the gleaming shell
And its captivating colors,
Amongst nails and nuts,
The workings of society
And its binary structures,
Hides the dirt of the world
Spinning, round and round
Like an antediluvian dance
Spreading traces of the everyday labor
Like a whirlwind of facts and confusions
An empire of signs
Who keeps a hand on the hose?
Or the hammer?
Does it wear sparkling red nail polish?
Or is it stained with dirt?
Women’s games. Men’s plays
In the internal chamber of the device
From the depths of the earth
A giggle resounds
The satyr is at work
Abusing his prey,
Whilst a flower of self-love
Blossoms through the last rays of light
“The devil as ever is in the details”
Poem and curation by Lucile Bouvard
Wera Bet perceives the world analytically and unpacks its hidden parabolic meanings. Her works trace how (mis)information spreads, sprouting through concealed networks of knowledge and figuration. Bet questions what is a fluid understanding of various forms of sexual identity and desire, in doing so, she opens a conversation about gender categorization as instruments of generating and maintaining power. Her focus draws on sociological and aesthetic strategies that question the legitimacy of concepts that define what is masculine and feminine and how we perform these gender roles in society and how the public expects us to conform to these roles. Her practice is firmly rooted in so-called "Polishness", which refers to Polish culture, history, language.
