“Presence” is inspired by the idea of a monad in the concepts by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Immanuel Kant. Monads cannot be captured in spatial terms. They do not constitute anything real. Their reality is present in souls, thoughts and observations, they are unitary and perfect substances. From the viewpoint of nature, a monad is a ghost, soul or a form encompassing perception and aspiration. Monads determine movement, relocations, that is reconfiguration of the objects in which they are embodied, in the best way possible, they are powers and information clustered in a spot.
“Something that has no parts can’t be extended, can’t have a shape, and can’t be split up. So monads are the true atoms of Nature – the elements out of which everything is made.”
(G. W. Leibniz, Monadology, thesis no. 3.)
SOON_26 is a proposal of presenting the permeation of a non-physical space through matter to the extent of our perception. Emanation of the monadic activity disturbs the space we know by assuming a spherical shape. In this case, presence is in a situation that can be called “in-between”. The mental phenomenon named collective consciousness leaves us in the same position. The phenomenon occurring in the mind of each of us, where the representation of other people’s worlds concentrates, prevents the presence in any of them. We are encompassed in each of them separately and in all of them at once.
James Sierżęga – born in 1991; a graduate of the Faculty of Sculpture, the Academy of Fine Arts (ASP) in Krakow. A participant of many plain-air paintings, sculpture and drawing exhibitions, including international ones. A holder of a scholarship of the Minister of Science and Higher Education. The winner of the Pomorskie Voivodship Marshal Award as part of the All-Poland Exhibition of the Best Diplomas of Academies of Fine Arts 2015. In his works, he touches upon the issues of seeking and developing the spiritual sphere and consciousness. Currently commences his doctoral programme at the Academy of Fine Arts (ASP) in Krakow.