Janja Kosi

Cult of happines

BEING HAPPY.
An ultimate life goal in our contemporary capitalist landscape.
Figures from home décor and furniture catalogues are no longer just models—they are blueprints for living.
Each day is saturated with vivid images that promise comfort, joy, ease.
We are blinded by their gloss, unable to see how we are suffocating beneath the weight of their emptiness.

At the heart of the installation are two paintings, concealed behind large indoor plants.
No title card, no description—only two QR codes.
The paintings cannot be seen in their entirety.
To pass the green curtain, one must scan the codes.
They lead not to the artwork itself, but to its miniature reproduction on an Instagram profile.

The project probes our modes of perception—of art, of experience, and of the so-called perfect life constructed for us.
Even within the gallery context, the only access to the painting is via social media, through a small screen.
Many visitors do not scan the codes at all.
And so the question arises: what is my role, as a painter, in a world where “everything has already been done”?
What is the function of painting today?

In the installation, attention is diverted from the paintings—not by theory, but by decoration.
By plants.
As is widely accepted, plants elevate the quality of space. They soften, they heal, they soothe.
And perhaps that is all we want now—
to feel good.
To be happy.