Artist: Jan Domicz
Title: 1070 Abholbox – SO Burggasse #24
Venue: Significant Other, Vienna
30.11.2019 – 31.01.2020
If Dante Alighieri would nowadays decide to repeat his descent through the ten circles of hell, he would be surprised to find that the complexly structured Inferno of his times, full of Florentine’s dignitaries were flattened into one single level of an endless Amazon storage facility. And instead of Vergilius as a wise advisor and representative of high intellect, he would be guided by Jeff Bezos to an infinite and excruciating dérive through an eternity of narrow corridors with sky-high shelves full of smiling boxes only to find at the end a self-pickup station with a plastic tray of cheap sushi.
***
A typical human Amazon worker walks 21 kilometers a day on average between endless lines of shelves and corridors equipped with a digital extension of their arm, at all times pointing them to the right direction. There is no chance to get lost in such a space, at least physically. Only the mind phases out into a different realm – one of blunt and rather dull nightmares. There is no space left for elaborate creatures of those old circles of hell, when the only thing you see the whole day are commodities you most likely can’t even afford.
The space of SO usually allows for circulation, and if you’d be really determined, you could easily have your daily 21 kilometers just by walking in circles. Not this time though. Domicz defines the choreography of your movement pretty clearly. Pass through the tunnel, get a drink at the Abholbox, or at least enjoy the elaborately pleasing composition of pineapple and garlic and follow the route to the cul de sac facing a transparent barrier. The people and things on the other side seem almost tangible, but your instinct tells you not to pierce through. Why would you do that anyway?
Every once in a while, you find yourself attempting to scroll down through pages of books or zoom into an analog image with two fingers. What a deformation, what a power of habit. Don’t be afraid to do such a futile thing in your mind with all the models of inhuman warehouses around. You’ll find yourself deep inside a real hell without the slightest chance of escape. Only the newly installed light outside could give a possible sense of closure or maybe rather an escape route.
