‘Resilience’ by Jakub Choma at Editorial

You enter the space and what do you see? Do you see constructed objects, or maybe something accidentally blown with the wind? Is it the remains of a giant ladybug hanging from the wall or does it just seem real? Are these small mechanical machines communicating with each other, or is it all just a figment of your inflamed brain? How do things work here? Does this thing communicate with itself? Or are there parts of it which talk to each other? Or does it say something to you? It is saying something to you right now, and you cannot make out its password-protected language, because you do not know the passwords?

Jakub Choma, Resilience, exhibition view. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda, copyright and courtesy of the artist and Editorial, Vilnius

Jakub Choma, Resilience, exhibition view. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda, copyright and courtesy of the artist and Editorial, Vilnius

Jakub Choma, Resilience, exhibition view. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda, copyright and courtesy of the artist and Editorial, Vilnius

Jakub Choma, Resilience, exhibition view. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda, copyright and courtesy of the artist and Editorial, Vilnius

Jakub Choma, Resilience, exhibition view. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda, copyright and courtesy of the artist and Editorial, Vilnius

Jakub Choma, Resilience, exhibition view. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda, copyright and courtesy of the artist and Editorial, Vilnius

It may be worthwhile to somehow establish communication with it. But how? Poke a finger. It might work. The finger springs and bounces off the soft, pliable material. Look, it is back in its form. The dent from your finger has disappeared, as if it did not exist at all. Is there a trace? Did parts of this thing feel you? If we assume that all this constitutes one big system (ecosystem?), then it will mean that all its parts are interconnected, and if you poke in one place, this thing will resonate it in all other places. You need to be careful and not to make unnecessary movements. You never know what this may lead to. In the Amazon jungle, ten people enter the forest, and only two come out. Why do these two survive? What did they do right? What were the other eight wrong about? It is not easy to find a safe island. Finger springs, lit fire goes out. Monkeys scream in the jungle. Perhaps they have a romantic evening, and we bother them. But wasn’t it that people invented romance? Do tropical monkeys have romantic evenings? The screams are getting longer, you can’t understand if they scare or fascinate you. Both I guess?

Jakub Choma, Resilience, exhibition view. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda, copyright and courtesy of the artist and Editorial, Vilnius

Jakub Choma, Resilience, exhibition view. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda, copyright and courtesy of the artist and Editorial, Vilnius

Jakub Choma, Resilience, exhibition view. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda, copyright and courtesy of the artist and Editorial, Vilnius

Jakub Choma, Resilience, exhibition view. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda, copyright and courtesy of the artist and Editorial, Vilnius

Jakub Choma, Resilience, exhibition view. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda, copyright and courtesy of the artist and Editorial, Vilnius

Jakub Choma, Resilience, exhibition view. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda, copyright and courtesy of the artist and Editorial, Vilnius

Why do you need to get there? It’s getting dark. Here it gets a little dangerous. It already has been dangerous here? Well, now it becomes much more dangerous. You will have to watch your every step. Do you know what is most important? You know it. If you disappear in this jungle, no one will find you. The jungle will eat you up. The giant ladybug will take to its nest the remnants of what predatory plants does not finish. Your parts will be dispersed around the forest, and no one will be able to put them together. After all, you are not a puzzle. It’s so good to be a puzzle sometimes. To feel adjacent parts next to all four of your sides. If you were a puzzle, which image would you choose for yourself? Something from the science fiction? Or a banal still-life? Puzzles with still lives and landscapes are bought more often, if to believe the statistics of companies that produce board games. But you do not want to be like everyone else. To indulge into mainstream tastes. But who can eventually explain what is wrong with doing this?

Jakub Choma, Resilience, exhibition view. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda, copyright and courtesy of the artist and Editorial, Vilnius

Jakub Choma, Resilience, exhibition view. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda, copyright and courtesy of the artist and Editorial, Vilnius

Jakub Choma, Resilience, exhibition view. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda, copyright and courtesy of the artist and Editorial, Vilnius

Jakub Choma, Resilience, exhibition view. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda, copyright and courtesy of the artist and Editorial, Vilnius

Jakub Choma, Resilience, exhibition view. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda, copyright and courtesy of the artist and Editorial, Vilnius

Jakub Choma, Resilience, exhibition view. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda, copyright and courtesy of the artist and Editorial, Vilnius

Jakub Choma, Resilience, exhibition view. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda, copyright and courtesy of the artist and Editorial, Vilnius

Jakub Choma, Resilience, exhibition view. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda, copyright and courtesy of the artist and Editorial, Vilnius

In my opinion, we are well advanced. Look, it becomes not that easy to distinguish you from the environment. You found the approach. Or have you just bought a good camouflage suit at a gun shop? If the forest finds out that you walk here with a weapon, it will destroy you. Although who said that this is forest after all? Just a simple painted children playground. Soon the children will come here and a terrible scream will rise.

They will start to touch everything, and if someone has a felt-tip pen, they will paint it all. Worth leaving as soon as possible. Let the forest take care of itself. Or is it worth waiting for the children and warn them that a giant ladybug can carry them to its nest? Although you are not sure that this is your business. You just enjoy subtlety and elaboration of details, unfamiliar sounds, smells … You are relaxed and feel how the passwords begin to calibrate themselves…

My God, where did your finger go?

– Natalya Serkova

Jakub Choma (b. 1995) is a visual artist based in Prague (CZ), studies painting at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design. Choma uses a variety of materials and digital techniques to create works that often take the form of sculptural collages or complex, layered environments.

Editorial program is supported by the LR Ministry of Culture, Lithuanian Council for Culture, Vilnius Municipality. This exhibition is also made possible with a support by Polansky gallery (Prague).