About

SURPLUS is a collaborative platform founded back in 2017 by visual artist, Magda Buczek. SURPLUS addresses material and symbolic overproduction.

The main tools of SURPLUS are language and waste.

Language determined by socio-economic dynamics, internet-born slang, broken English, or - as Hito Steyerl calls it, “international disco Latin”. Waste - seen as an effect of late capitalism’s excess, hoarding, circulating. Clashing these two elements blurs the line between trash and luxury and creates a surplus space to re-consume without the necessity of production.

The platform fuses visual poetry, performance, activism, and hacks marketing strategies. SURPLUS morphs between mediums to optimize its target group and also to widen its potential exposure. That is why it has been featured at Fashion Week (Berlin Fashion Week 2019) and fashion magazines (Vogue, Kaltblut, Elle) but also at art galleries (Calvert 22 Foundation London, Akademie der Kuenste der Welt Koln), design festivals (Potentiale Design Festival) and museums (MOMA Warsaw, Royal Academy of Arts London) It is virusing institutions, spaces, and imagery.

The project relates to the fashion of the 1980s and ‘90s when statement t-shirts were often seen as a personal declaration. Within the SURPLUS series, texts are placed on the surface of old garments, carried on human bodies, and planted in public space. 

Main collaborators at SURPLUS were photographer Zuza Krajewska, Ziggy Bang and Albert Vaaben aka House Painting Service, Rafal Gaweda, visual artist Agnieszka Szczotka,  Akademie de Kuenste der Welt, Biennale Warszawa, graphic designer Emilia Obrzut, and activist Areta Szpura. 

Website credits:
Texts and concept: Magda Buczek
Photography: Zuza Krajewska, Rafal Gaweda, Ziggy Bang and Albert Vaaben
Animation: Luke Jaszcz
Dance performances: Bozna Milan
Brand Advisor: Lars Juhl
Brand Ambassador: Areta Szpura, K-Phax, Agnieszka Szczotka
Screen Prints made by: Vlepvnet V9 gallery
Zine Designer and Advisor, 2017 - 2019: Emilia Obrzut