Kristyna and Marek Milde

 In Toto, 2019, household dust, soap, edition of 7, each 2 3/16” x 3 5/8” x 1 ¼” (5,5 cm x 9,3 cm x 3 cm)

In Toto by Kristyna and Marek Milde is a bar of soap made of household dust and soap. In Toto embodies an oxymoron, the possibility of cleaning and dirtying your self at the same time with the same gestures and the same tool.

Factory-made, industrial products are synonymous with the notion of the modern, pristinely clean and perfect. The soap is an ultimate tool defining our culture, which is based on constant elimination of what is dirty and filthy. In Toto challenges the modern obsession with extreme cleanliness and the fear of dirt represented by the constant use of antiseptic hygiene products. It questions and reflects on what is natural and what is artificial.

For Mildes dust is a unique substance, a matter universally present, which they explore for its environmental and cultural significance. It is an inclusive entity consisting of many small particles of all possible things both natural and man-made like shavings of cloths, parts of human bodies and stardust from far away galaxies. In Toto represents the idea of wholeness reflecting the matter in transition, its constant, accumulation, and dispersal in the cycle of nature, that we as humans attempt to interrupt, succeeding only temporarily.  It represents a model of reality as a whole.