Gold Standard

This autumn, the SIC! BWA Wrocław gallery will present an exhibition by Matthew Szosz, an artist and educator known primarily for his innovative processes and original use of glass, which interests him due to its poetic and intellectual potential. The presentation, or rather the experience in the gallery, will refer to the sense of anxiety and inevitability visualised by the giant golden meteorite, which is the focal point of the exhibition.

Recent years have been extremely difficult for us. We have witnessed the collapse of democracy and the regression of social progress, all in combination with a climate disaster that we are unable stop. What is more, the global pandemic has been the source of an ever-present sense of insecurity that never leaves us.  

The exhibition by American artist Matthew Szösz will revolve around these feelings of anxiety and inevitability visualised in the form of a giant golden meteorite, which will be the centrepiece of the exhibition at the SIC! BWA Wrocław gallery. The idea for the object was inspired by 16 Psyche, which is an asteroid said to contain 10,000 trillion dollars worth of gold and other precious metals – enough to cripple modern economic systems and thus render itself valueless.Gold Standard, however, is intended to become more of a human experience than an art gallery display. It is supposed to encourage the audience to actively and fully participate in the exhibition. The object’s reflective surface will move and change as we move, fragmenting and rearranging our reality anew.

About the artist:

Matthew Szösz is an artist and educator known primarily for his innovative processes and original use of glass, which interests him due to its poetic and intellectual potential. He is co-founder of the curator group Hyperopia Projects and CEO of Public Glass in San Francisco. He has taught at Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Washington, University of Hawai’i, Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław, Pilchuck Glass School, Penland School of Crafts and Bildwerk Frauenau, among others. He currently lives in Seattle with his wife Anna Mlasowsky.