Pure Luck

This is a Tihi, and no, it is not a mouse, and no, it is not Cheburashka. It has no backstory, it has no ancient lore, it has no concept or meaning, or symbolism hidden in its form. It's a small creature of sorts that brings luck to whoever can buy one.

Lately, my Instagram algorithm has shown me a lot of short videos related to ceramics. Most of them are filled with useful tips and tricks in the so-called attention economy; things that used to be well-kept secrets are now shared for free on the internet in bite-sized chunks. I find it fascinating that this process of democratization of knowledge comes with its specific form of superstitions. Before firing, some ceramic artists pray to the kiln gods (most of it is in jest). There is a certain unpredictable nature in the craft of ceramics. The gaps between technical mastery and the final result are filled with a heavy dose of luck.

The whole process is kind of unpredictable and can go wrong at any step. This reliance on chance is even hard-baked in the mythological origin of ceramics. In the Chinese ceramic tradition, a kiln god can be a specific entity, and each region has its own. I read about the mythological origin of a specific kiln god, Ning Fengzi, who was cooking something in a cave, and a lump of mud fell into his fire. After it cooled down, the clay became ceramics. Through the wonder of some lucky empirical epiphany, he discovered ceramics.

When I was younger, someone told me a similar tall tale about how some ancient Chinese emperor invented tea when the wind blew some tea leaves into his conveniently placed pot of boiling water. A case of pure luck. In Eastern Orthodox Christianity, the patron saint of ceramic artists is Saint Spyridon. During a debate with some unnamed Greek philosopher, Spyridon, a simple shepherd, picked up a piece of broken ceramic and performed a miracle. He split the already baked clay into its primal components: fire, water, and earth. Instead of using some complex logical reasoning to explain the existence of the Holy Trinity, he used the miracle as a visual metaphor. I like this story not because I am particularly religious, but because it is an example that shows you can hide some profound metaphorical meaning even in a humble material like clay.

In the Bible, God made man from soil. In Finland, they are replacing the artificial floors of playgrounds with soil. They found out it boosted natural immunity. Touching grass makes you healthy. But touching grass can also give you Toxoplasmosis, a parasite found in cat urine. When a mouse catches it, it loses its fear of cats. In humans, the parasite digs into our brains, making us love cats, and is connected to partaking in higher-risk activities like extreme sports and speeding. 33 percent of people have it. There is a direct, statistically significant correlation between the love of cats and motorcycle deaths.

Statistics are the enemy of luck. Humans are so fragile. We break easily. We can't escape our dust-like nature. In the week leading up to this show, Britney Spears pleaded guilty to reckless driving after an arrest. Conspiracy theorists believe the people behind the curtain are cloning Britney, and the current one is the third one. This iteration sure loves partaking in risky behaviors like dancing with knives and reckless driving. Britney was 11 when she signed her Walt Disney deal. How lucky was she? She was publicly commodified for our collective entertainment. She was lucky and a star, but she did cry, cry, cry when alone at night.*

Under capitalism, artists are expected to commodify themselves. This was always the case for the performing arts, but lately, visual artists need to perform for the camera, spinning around like monkeys for a 33-second short-form content Instagram reel, turning themselves into the spectacle in an attempt to find commercial success.

The Tihi is an attempt to skip the self-commodification step and directly create a highly collectible, limited edition, custom-made product-shaped art. The Tihi is a perfect representation of the "Ground Zero" of creation—an empty vessel without the baggage of history, existing purely to bring you luck in a world that seems increasingly determined to quantify, clone, or commodify everything else.

* Visual elements of the exhibition refer to the art direction of Britney Spears' music video for "Lucky" (2000).

—Valko Chobanov, 2026