A traditional wooden table belongs to basic equipment of human flats and houses, and is recalled as a reference to typical hospitality, or joint meetings at a table, discussions, debates, exchanges and even misunderstandings which can be optimistically settled with an invitation to dinner. The form of the wooden object has been intentionally scaled up. There is a visible irregular crack in the table, which divides it into two parts. The crack line was copied from the political map of Poland after the 2019 EU election in May, where the division into the European Coalition and Law and Justice was very clear. This dividing line has been precisely represented in scale on the wooden tabletop, halving the entire form, and yet, the object seems to be whole. The form refers to the notion of anti-hospitality, division (including the political one), discord, mistrust, intolerance, xenophobia, hate towards strangers or minorities.
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Dariusz Sitek, born in 1966 in Sandomierz. Sculptor, assistant at the Faculty of Sculpture and Intermedia at the Gdańsk Academy of Fine Arts, in prof. J. Szczypka’s Studio of Sculpture Fundamentals. Graduate of the State Higher School of the Visual Arts in Gdańsk. He has worked as an artist for many years, using wood, stone, ceramics, synthetic materials, metal or ready objects in his works, including a few large-scale projects. He has participated in several solo and group exhibitions, outdoor sculpture workshops in Poland and abroad, and sculptured monument and statuette competitions. His recent works, objects and installations are more critical, focused on current affairs. He intentionally shocks with literalness using realistic means of expression.