Agata Ingarden. EmoPolis

A hanging mechanical structure and solar panels emerge from between the glass windows of office buildings, giving rise to a modern cityscape. This is one of the possible views of the House of Dreams - a laboratory that claims freedom from social norms whilst commensurately establishing new rules of coexistence. It is both a place and an interactive program, which can be seen shaping the lives of three groups of residents. Butterfly People performs an emotional task in that it energizes the entire infrastructure. Films embedded in the architectural elements allow for insight into the course, or rather flow of these processes, wherein the discovery of bodily limitations and communication through movement play an important role. Here we may observe members of this group endeavoring to build both their identity and group consciousness. 
Goblin Butterflies are taken up with the servicing of the physical processes and architecture of the House of Dreams. The EmoPolis, on the other hand, embodies supervision and regulation. In this dynamic interaction between the characters, the EmoPolis balances the energy generated by the Butterfly People; and works like a suite of mirrors reflecting emotions, and stimulating the self-awareness of its inhabitants.
These ambiguous characters embody and encapsulate various aspects of urban life – complex systems where surveillance is an integral part of everyday life. The installation and the museum are metaphors for the economy of attention, on which the experience of mediated reality is based. Indeed, the House of Dreams changes its architecture depending on a point of view or a given perspective. But the experience of the same is predicated on the viewer identifying with a given character. Visitors to the exhibition also become part of the titular EmoPolis – they supervise the conveyance of emotions. A glimpse into the life cycle of the House of Dreams emerges from behind the glass of the infrastructure built from the windows of an office building in Kyiv .

Their translucent surfaces blur the boundaries between the interior and the exterior. Both the glass ruins of corporate architecture and the dripping parts of the metal flowers of Picnic at Sunset become like the eyes of insects.

Both projects reflect the functioning of interconnected systems. In the world of the House of Dreams, the energy of the Butterfly People drives a program that is regulated and monitored by the EmoPolis. Similarly, the sculpture Picnic at Sunset integrates natural and recycled components (metal, charred sugar, mushroom fabric, and solar panels) to create a self-sustaining ecosystem. Together, they construct an urban landscape that merges the public and private space. The tangled interactions of groups and isolated events create a coherent narrative of the world of the House of Dreams.

Agata Ingarden (b. 1994 in Poland) lives and works between Paris, FR and Athens, GR. She works with multiple media and her sculptural practice expands to collaborative works combining video, performance, sound and writing. Her practice is driven by material research as well as investigations in post-humanities, sociology, science fiction and mythical narratives. Her works have been exhibited in venues such as Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2019); Frac, Île-de-France, Paris (2019); Mo.Co, La Panacée, Montpellier (2019); Künstlerhaus, Vienna (2020); MS Lodz, Lodz (2021); Art Encounters Biennial, Timișoara (2021); CAPC, Bordeaux (2022); Centro de Cultura Digital, Mexico City (2023). She will be a part of the 15th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea (2024). She received a Special Prize at the Future Generation Art Prize in 2021.

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