Lucia Ghegu: The Laws of Thermodynamics
Curator: Ioana Iuna Șerban
Exhibition Design: Andreea Chircă
There are countless laws by which the situations we find ourselves in can be described. Official legal statutes, unwritten moral codes, relational laws shaped by those in the relationship, group rules, and even metaphorical laws tied to emotional landscapes or the paths we choose. Are we subject to these laws—in the sense of being subordinate to them—or do we find ourselves in a relationship of equality, or even superiority, when we choose to apply or evade them? Even the most rebellious spirits, no matter how much they try to escape the influence of laws, likely find themselves needing to create their own set of rules to explain recurring phenomena, patterns of feeling, or repetition of states.
In her work, Lucia Ghegu draws on phenomena and the fluctuation of states through shifting forms. In an impassive, seemingly impersonal way, her works are serenely mechanized products of micro-systems positioned somewhere between hieroglyphs, heraldic symbols, and choreographic directions dictated by a society that has achieved perfection. This instructional façade actually encrypts inner transformation, the internal tumult in relation to depersonalization, bodily customs, and relationships bound by borders and exchanges that always leave behind a residue. Ultimately, Lucia Ghegu’s work is a personal story, poised between subjective experience and formal detachment, and the oscillation between these two poles retraces emotional journeys. For her, drawing—which appears to be experiencing a revival in contemporary visual art—is not a mere prop of intimacy but functions as technical drawing derived from design, deploying a clearly defined language that she meticulously varies. The resulting 3D objects from these drawings compensate and embody a state, a necessity.
Traps, cages, embracing devices—all of these mechanisms, reminiscent of Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum, evolve from within themselves, retreat, and partially collapse back into themselves within an endless, self-perpetuating circuit. These are closed systems, cells in which, with each act by the individual, a new growth emerges as a vent. But is it a vent for salvation? Or merely for continuation, for persistence? Can the individuals use themselves as a reference point to conceive and accept another in relation? Or is everything we project merely a double of ourselves?
In exploring phenomena and states—ultimately, human ones—Lucia Ghegu does not prescribe a translation into human laws. Instead, the mechanisms she draws or creates as 3D objects seem to follow the laws of thermodynamics, where each cell functions as a system in itself:
Energy is in constant transformation. Ghegu’s mechanisms do not seek the cause or destination of states; but the transformations themselves.
Over time, each system will tend towards increasing imbalance, as entropy shifts an embracing device into one of isolation.
Equilibrium occurs between two systems and their surrounding environment when they come into contact.
In short, this story is about finding and leaving a home, reformulating oneself within, establishing a safe connection with one another and the surrounding environment. It’s the eternal story of restraints and surpluses that show us how we operate when we switch to autopilot.
The exhibition was organized by /SAC in partnership with Cărturești Carusel.
