Sofi Żezmer. Hierarchies of Happiness
The current show by a German-based Polish artist is a multi-part exposition consisting of installations, objects, collages, photographs and texts. The point of departure for Sofi Żezmer’s art is a keen observation of the surrounding her daily life. In a subtle and surprising way, she combines and transforms ubiquitous objects, words and texts, creating curious accumulations that offer multiple, possible meanings.
After her recent solo exhibition Extreme Normal at the Arsenał Municipal Gallery in Poznań, where she “explored” the boundaries of normality, this time the artist focuses on the broad concept of happiness.
Sofi Żezmer studied sculpture, photography and art history at Cooper Union College of Arts and Sciences in New York (1982-1986). She received her MA in art history from Hunter College also in New York in 1993. She creates experimental sculptures and installations, often interactive, using everyday materials as well as special constructions made of metal, glass or wood. She is also the author of photographs, drawings and collages. The artist is fascinated by discovering absurdities and contradictions in the conventions of human life. She is a member of the International Artists Forum, IKG, Deutscher Künstler Bund, DKB (German Artists Association) and a member of the Board of the Institution of Contemporary Art: Kunstverein Bellevue-Saal in Wiesbaden, Germany.
Curator: Bogna Błażewicz
Start 03.07.2025, 6pm
20 Gdańska St.
End 14.09.2025
Hierarchies of Happiness
Bogna Błażewicz spoke with Sofi Żezmer before the start of the exhibition
Bogna Błażewicz: Happiness is one of the most desired and indisputable values in human life, although it may mean something different to each person. Do you think that being happy is a gradual process and that it is possible to define the level reached, or is one either happy or not?
Sofi Żezmer: I think that being happy is related to a certain state of consciousness, to stable emotional bonds, to social engagement, and to being able to experience life fully. I understand it more as a rhizome-like phenomenon, rather than as a linear progression. So, yes, I do think you’re either a happy person or you’re not. But one can (at least potentially) also develop that state of being. In English, the words ‘happiness’ and ‘happening’ share a syllable – the root happ – of Old Norse origin, meaning both a fortunate chance occurance and taking part in life. It is of course crucial having one’s basic physical and material needs met, however this does not guarantee the experience of happiness.
BB: The concept of hierarchy is associated with the functioning of communities, including those in the animal world, but also with the internal organization of institutions, company boards, etc. When this category is associated with happiness, we get a particular effect of alienation…
SŻ: Hierarchy seems to be deeply rooted in the structures of Western civilization. The word comes from the Greek language and is composed of ‘hieros’, meaning holy, and ‘archos’, meaning ruler. These are notions of unquestioned, top-down power and dominance structures associated with subordination, predictability, or even with fear. Happiness is associated with a diametrically different state of being. It is rather based on an inner sense of selfassurance, free choice of action, unpredictability, and being socially integrated and valued.
BB: It is impossible not to ask a question about Maslow’s famous pyramid of happiness, also called the pyramid of needs, which is built according to the principles of hierarchy. Does the system of conditions presented in it really govern our happiness and is it even possible to control the desired experience according to any scheme?
SŻ: Maslow, an American psychologist, created in 1943 a theory of human motivation as a pyramid of needs – starting from physical at the base, through psychological and emotional to spiritual needs at the very top. According to him, these categories lead in a steady linear progression to individual happiness. Interestingly, this scheme has also been used by business consultants since the 1950s. Maslow’s hierarchy of happiness has become a standard in the study of human psychology. However, he forgot to mention that this theory is based on the knowledge and culture of the Blackfoot people of Canada1. He changed these ideas significantly, imposing on them a linear structure of Western thinking. The indigenous worldview sees restorative justice as essential for their entire society and for the environment. It is based on cooperation and the enhancement of collective rather than individual prosperity. Self-actualization they recognize not as the highest level of development, as in Maslow’s pyramid of happiness, but rather as the basic state of being. Critics of Maslow’s theory have found out that the happiest people are those who are socially engaged and the better things are for others in their society, the happier they themselves feel2! An example is Finland, which for eight years in a row holds first place in ranking of countries whose citizens consider themselves to be happy. This is based on, among other things, a strong sense of community, an efficient social welfare system (free or strongly subsidized education and healthcare) and a low level of corruption. Poland is on place 26th out of 100.
BB: The title of the exhibition creates a broad context, so I will ask on behalf of the visitors: as an artist, to which aspect of the title-issues would you like to draw attention in particular ?
SŻ: The title of the exhibition is a kind of a screen or a mental space which I open up for communication with visitors. My works are situated on the borderline between abstraction and multi-layered associations. Individual works have their own intrinsic logic, yet they also directly correspond with other works in the exhibition and with the vast space of the Municipal Gallery bwa in Bydgoszcz. The title includes the word “hierarchies” in plural. Through this I would like to draw attention to the questioning of categorical formulations and definitions that drive our understanding of the world. The concept of happiness is so basic in human life and yet it is so shadowed in public awareness by all the conflicts and antagonisms driven by various hierarchies of power. By setting a context of communication – even with contradictory ideas pertaining to happiness – I would like to disrupt the passivity of accepting what “is as it is” and consider a possibility of reflecting on how it could be…
1Feigenbaum KD, Smith RA. Histtorical Narratives: Abraham Maslow and Blackfoot interpretations. ‘Humanistic Psychol’. 2020; 48 (3): 232-43. doi:10.1037/hum0000145
2news.illnois.edu, 29.11.2011, Prof. Emerytus of psychology, Ed Diener, led this study based on a Gallup Institute poll in 155 countries (2005-2010).
