Hannah Toticki: A Million Times and More

In Hannah Toticki's first solo exhibition at Wilson Saplana Gallery, the concept of interconnectedness is examined and highlighted. It is manifested in a series of ambitious works, the largest being a water-installation consisting of a network of fifty meters of water pipes and kitchen sinks. The water flows rhythmically at programmed intervals, as if the taps were being opened and closed by invisible hands. The installation thus becomes both a sound work and a physical sculpture.

With the title of the installation A Million Times and More, which has also named the exhibition, Toticki refers to the repetitive reproductive work, to cooking, the endless dishwashing, and to all the carework that connects us as humans. We are also connected by millions of drops of water. Water is absorbed into and expelled from our bodies, and the daily routines in our homes are made possible by our infrastructure of this essential water. This water we take for granted in our daily lives, but which is increasingly a scarce resource on a global scale. In Toticki's exhibition, the water pipes have literally stepped out of the wall, making visible the systems and our interconnectedness.

In the exhibition, Hannah Toticki also presents a series of smaller works that provide perspective on everyday routines and society's constant focus on optimization and efficiency. Issues that weigh on us all and which, in Toticki's sculptures, become poetic statements about the constant care work. In these works, hands stand as the exhibition's most important actor: playfully wrapping fingers around colorful sponges, dishcloths, and sharp kitchen utensils. The hands are intertwined with the tools, are tools themselves, and are closely connected with the materials and the work they perform in the home.

Toticki’s works create a counter-image to the extraordinary and/or edited, which fills most of the media images and the platforms of social media. Here, the concrete, physical, and intimate everyday life, which actually takes up most of our time, often becomes a smaller and somewhat overlooked part of the public conversation. Everyday life, and ultimately life itself, instead becomes a task that simply needs to be managed.