In Play Down, Polish employees in a stud station lead one of the horses into aseptic, bare room to collect his sperm. Once refrigerated it will be used or exported abroad to improve and increase the breeding of new champions. The horse is forced to live a simulated reality only to respond to the market demand. The work becomes a critical stance against the industrial exploitation of animals and the dominant power of men over all other species.
Agnieszka Mastalerz in 2016 obtained a B.A. degree in Cultural Studies from the University of Warsaw. Between 2017 and 2018 she obtained a M.A. at the Studio of Spatial Activities by the professor Mirosław Bałka at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, and was a visiting student in Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin’s studio at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg. She has received a DAAD scholarship to study at HBK Braunschweig in Candice Breitz/Eli Cortiñas’ studio. In her work she analyzes mechanisms of control and processes affecting the behaviour of each individual, as well as oppressive relationships established between human beings, natural environment and technologies within the companies. In 2017 she won the 16th Hestia Artistic Journey competition for young Polish artists. Her works were presented in art institutions such as Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw; Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw; Starak Family Foundation in Warsaw; Otwock Studio, Old Brewery in Poznań; TRAFO Centre for Contemporary Art in Szczecin; Fondation Hippocrène in Paris; Deichtorhallen in Hamburg.