M HKA Ensembles

Installation

Collection: Courtesy of the artist.

This new series illustrates the models for behaviour and social interaction that children must internalise if they are not to be ostracised in kindergarten or at school. It consists of six paintings and four three-dimensional, polychromous ‘situations’ (Storage, Classroom, Building, Playground) displayed in a custom-made cupboard. The title refers to the Nash Equilibrium, named after game theorist John Forbes Nash and describing a set of strategies where ‘players’ can do no better by unilaterally changing their strategies. Safronova writes: “This establishes a standard model of an infinitely repetitive game, the Game of the General View, where coordinating one’s own point of view with others, changing positions or seeking real gain is possible only within the given rules. Stable equilibrium becomes the most beneficial condition, and any change is only for the worse. Imagination and liberation from obstacles become unnecessary.”  (AK)