Misery Salad, 2023

Kasia Fudakowski, Misery Salad, 2023; Animated glass neon, electrical cabling, transformers, toggle switch, smart plug. Neon produced by Thomas Wendler; 160 × 150 × 10 cm

At 23, Habsburg Princess Bona Sforza of Italy had to swap Bari for Krakow when she was married, per procura, to the 50-year-old Polish King Sigismund the Old, in an attempt to shore up Habsburg power for Emperor Maximilian I. The change was a shock. It was said that when she saw what little fresh fruit and vegetables were served in the cold northern land, she wept into her cucumber salad; since then the dish has been referred to as Misery Salad.

When this sculpture (or others from the Gallery Power LTD exhibition) is publicly exhibited, the amount of energy the piece may consume must be limited. This limit is defined by the total Kilowatt consumption of the piece if it were to be turned on for all the opening hours of the exhibition, and then halved. In the event of the artist’s death, the artwork must remain off in perpetuity.