Euphoric Alienation
Kulterra Gallery, October 13, 2022
Text by Daniel Kozak

Alienation means estrangement, madness, the individual’s helplessness in relation to society and to oneself, the loss of personal identity within large and bureaucratic organizations, while euphoric refers to a state of euphoria — a feeling of exaggerated well-being and unjustified optimism that may occur in certain nervous disorders or be induced by narcotic substances; by extension, it signifies bliss, intoxication, or ecstasy.

ATOMA descends from the rooftop into the exhibition space with an ambitious, activist, immersive solo show, rich in messages, information, references, sources, and meanings. She structures it as a triptych, in an attempt to dominate and organize external chaos, transforming it into a cautionary narrative that remains to be decoded and understood by the audience on site. The themes are those she has been exploring for some time: what we consume within the overwhelming flow of information and how it transforms us.

Euphoric Alienation is not a conclusion — euphoric alienation itself contains something oxymoronic, contradictory — but rather an observation of a current state of affairs, perhaps already categorized, yet reintroduced by the artist into public discourse. Within the narrative proposed by ATOMA, a menu of concrete and symbolic mundane objects is served with grandeur and etiquette: we have seen them all, we know them, we accept them as they are, without asking too many questions about who serves them to us, why, or what they truly mean.

Not only does the verb “to serve” distort its own meaning, but the artist forces us to question who controls this narrative and what the consequences are of the things and ideas we absorb without reflection — due to lack of time, without effort, out of convenience, comfort, or because of dependence.

The unfolding of the action reveals who the guests at this banquet are. A different kind of generational conflict is portrayed through the exaggerated portraits of aesthetically enhanced elderly figures, striving to escape aging and ugliness, often without perceiving the risk of becoming ridiculous, alongside younger generations portrayed as robotic, digitalized, and programmed individuals — two different forms of conformity to social norms, while ignoring consequences that appear obvious to the viewer.

Finally, instead of offering a possible ending, the artist introduces a physical presence that materializes in the form of oversized lips, behind which lies digitalization — a metonymy for social media and consumer society, together with all the shortcomings they imply: lack of responsibility, superficiality, and the deviations that transform us and bring us to this point.

And because the artist does not favor conclusions, these are left to the viewer, who remains free to understand what they wish — or what they are able to — through the lens of their own choices and to live with their consequences: to judge or not, to change or simply move forward.