27.09
Report from the festival: Marta Ryczkowska
The last interaction of the 21st performance festival was the perfect culmination of the four-day performance
festival. She pointed to the dominant moods of our time: uncertainty, anxiety, fear of
interpersonal contact. The important motive was the word - its weight, meaning, stickiness and
susceptibility to transformation.
The evening was opened by young adepts of the performance. Kamil Bednorz showed how words break off
your meanings. He showed it on the example of inflated balloons from which we either suck
meaning - then empty words-shells remain, or we destroy them and the meaning spills out in space. IN
in the further part of the monologue, Bednorz played with words, turning them into unreadable gibberish. Julia Gałas
she announced: "I would like to tell you something." A hand was reflected on the unbuttoned fabric
dipped in black paint. The planet earth has formed out of the traces. The noise cut a rectangle in the picture,
she invited individuals to nod their heads to come closer. It appeared to the eyes of the audience
narrow fogged mirror. The young performer whispered: "We have a problem." At some point
she said it out loud. The ecological meaning of the work was very clear.
Tomasz Sikorski prepared a small mound of salt. He illuminated it with a sharp spotlight.
He approached him and performed the sirshasana, which in yoga means standing on
head. The slender, motionless silhouette and its clear shadow made a strong sign in space. Face
the artist turned red, blood from all over his body was flowing to his head. Ania Rutkowska and approached him
she gently blew in his face cooling him down. At one point, the artist spat out yellow marbles.
He did this several times, and they rolled across the floor towards the audience, leaving shadows. He got up slowly
he bent over the salt and began scooping it up with his hands. The white color gradually turned to yellow aw
the air smelled of turmeric. From scattered little balls he made the word "JAD." Rubbed
a mixture of salt and turmeric in such a way that it resembled a volcanic crater. When viewers
they came closer, they saw that the shape of Poland was emerging from it. Subtle, sensual action
Sikorski directed the reflection towards the contemporary situation in our country. Using simple
measures expressed a strong, balanced signal of dissatisfaction. Venom and bile poison the body. Salt and
turmeric has cleansing and bactericidal properties. These substances lie on two opposite sides
rocking. We live in times of contempt, venom seeps through society through various channels, it expresses itself
dislike of the Other, disregard for human rights on many levels. Sikorski postulates mental
cleansing, getting rid of residual bile.
Jacek Lilpop's performance also touched upon the situation of contemporary Polishness, but it had much more to it
journalistic character. The artist talked about his activities and unpacked the painting, entitled
"A newspaper is burning out of shame for Poland," which had its public premiere. In terms of
the forms resembled a poster. The artist handed out matches with a thumbnail of the painting and the text: “Ah, like me
I'm ashamed ”, at the same time emphasizing that he is not in favor of arson. The picture had ambiguous
message and was provocative. Jacek Lilpop says about himself that he is a conservative believer who
fights for a place for contemporary art in the current discourse.
Timo Vialainen hung two brass bells from the ceiling. He rocked them at some point
he activated the electromagnets in them and the bells began to emit a sharp, piercing sound.
The artist built a wall of sound. At one point, it was joined by the sound of a water pump.
Vialainen ran with the machine among the audience, entered the rooms in the hall and closed the door from the inside,
and then you could see the water pouring out from under them. Everything was going crazy
pace. The piercing noise increased the mood of danger and the coming catastrophe. Imagination
it triggered fears related to sinking, flooding, flooding by a great wave.
The performance ended with a very subtle action with bells.
The artist again stood between them, put on earplugs and slowly lowered the brass objects until they vibrated on the floor, muffling their sound. He turned them off. The artist skillfully controlled the mood, indicated what strength
the auditory sphere has an impact and how easily it can activate primal human anxieties, fears and
phobias.
Paweł Korbus and Emrah Gökdemir entered the room with horse masks on their heads. Adventure with it
type of costume began with the movie "Best Friends", prepared by the artists
according to the scenario of 10-year-old Natalia for the exhibition "Journey to the Inside of the Image" (Cultural Center in
Lublin, 2018). Since then, performers have appeared in horse costumes from time to time,
most recently during “Distant limbs of the tongue. Performances ”(Pireus, Poznań, 2019). Two characters-
the hybrids strolled around the gallery holding hands. One of them was holding a basket of mushrooms,
gathered in the nearby forest. They served the audience with them, saying: Meow, meow.
The introduction of this identity turmoil had its second bottom. Masks were the way to go
hiding, deflating big topics (who am I?), which made it easier to shorten the distance.
The man-horse with the invisible face can afford more, because he is a half-figure
fantastic. More can be forgiven him. The seemingly innocent situation began to grow over time
more invasive. Artists approached people and took them off their chairs. They arranged the viewers one by one
the second, creating a monumental constellation. Baroque tangle of human bodies like a Laokon group
froze in motionlessness, discomfort and anticipation. The action was approaching, people felt their weight,
smell. The spectrum of experience has been expanded. Behavior of artists towards viewers
was oppressive in places: they jumped on people's backs and encouraged them to wear them. Horses riding on
people is another inversion of perspective and a manifestation of playing with identity. But the audience doesn't
she objected, fell into the convention, anxiously waiting for further instructions.
The Rudger collective held a concert in a small hall. It consisted of three elements: Zofia's melorecitation
Kuligowska, music by Wojtek Bernatowicz and visualization. The event was mesmerizing
synchronicity: image, effective play with words and their meanings, the artist's strong voice and
instrumentation. All the parts interacted and worked together. Music video formula
seemed to reflect the disturbing times in which everything is accelerating, connecting with
interpersonal relationships. Pictures pulsate like in a kaleidoscope and words swell with meanings, artists
they can move efficiently in this thicket, selecting the juiciest specimens and
catching the light in the author's collage. The visual-sound situation they created no
it left no one indifferent, beneath a seemingly chaotic layer a profound question about how
functioning in the world and the source of meanings.
The Restauracja Europa Group realized an intimate, simultaneous action based on symmetry and
minimalist means of expression. Two elegantly dressed men stood at perpendiculars
facing each other, at each of them stood a spotlighted table covered with a white cloth, under
which was hiding something. The artists made gestures that were not directed at the audience - Gordian
The stove stood at the table, took off the tablecloth, took out small packages from his pockets, and took out little balls
(expanded clay?), which he then poured into a glass dish. You had to stand close to see it
walls. Otherwise the movements were hard to read. Piotr Gajda was standing at his table facing in
audience side. There were white lines between the two stations, drawn with chalk on the floor. It's them
suggested that we were dealing with a symmetrical situation, although the artists' behavior was not
parallel. The enigmatic action opened up various fields of interpretation and referred to tradition
group performances - the artists often appeared in suits and referred to the history of the place, in
which started it all - the legendary Europa Restaurant. The final performance of the group had a nostalgic dimension, it evoked old stories, charm and elegant flair of a bygone era that are already
a song of the past.
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