In cooperation with Irmina Rusicka.

Two persons get into cars and drive towards each other at high speed. The person who brakes or leaves the route first is named the “chicken”. The person who will not hesitate to drive straight is the winner. However, if both of them decide to drive their cars until the very end – they will die.

The starting point for the “Z obawy przed wyginięciem” [“For fear of extinction”] exhibition, prepared by Irmina Rusicka and Kasper Lecnim, is the game of chicken, which models reality in a specific way, assuming that the “madman’s strategy” is the most effective. In order to defeat an opponent, one has to convince him that one is not thinking rationally and intends to act until the very end, regardless of the circumstances.

Rusicka and Lecnim analyse the need for rivalry, having power, humiliation of the opponent and gaining respect by means of force, which is often based on irrational behaviours of potential macho-winners. They also pose a question whether the very fear of extinction is currently one of the strongest reasons for such mischievous behaviours in both everyday and political life.

The exhibition was created as part of the second edition of the residency programme implemented by Galeria Szara [Grey Gallery] in partnership with the Silesian Museum in Katowice. The basis of the residence is the “Męska rzecz” [“Men’s thing”] exhibition presented in the Silesian Museum.

Curator: Joanna Rzepka-Dziedzic