Documentation from the 2nd day of the Festival, during which we could see 9 poignant performances by: Anna Steller, Joanna Pawlik, Marta Ziółek, Janusz Bałdyga, Aleksandra Kubiak, Aurora Lubos, Tomasz Opania oraz Krzysztof Leon Dziemaszkiewicz.
Curator: Agnieszka Chodysz-Foryś
Translation from Polish into Czech of Tomasz Opania‘s work “Lentil, wheel, miele, mill”: Zofia Bałdyga.
Translation from Polish to Czech of the text of Aleksandra Kubiak‘s performance: Zofia Bałdyga.
Translation from Polish into English of Aleksandra Kubiak:’s performance text: “Why do you still have this heart? To love.”: Karol Waniek
The entire program was inspired by the works of Jenny Holzer, the famous text “I Want a President” (1992) and installation (2016) by Zoe Leonard, the work of Barbara Hammer, Andre Fraser, or Doris Salcedo’s work “Shibboleth”.
The program, combining the experiences of people from different fields of action of the Polish and Czech art scene, touched upon the problem of the language of performance as a tool of both representation and resistance. After all, language itself – understood broadly, as gesture, body, voice or narrative – can serve to communicate, but also to exclude. While reinforcing norms and power structures, it simultaneously has the potential to deconstruct them. During the panel, we discussed how performative practices reveal invisible mechanisms of oppression, and how they can open up space for hitherto marginalized voices. Performative actions, in turn, focused on language, took on a range of maturing, many times personal stories and problems of today.
photo: Stan Barański
