Tomasz Szrama. Crossing My I’s

At the age of 26, I moved to a country where a unique Finno-Ugric language characterised by difficult grammar, is spoken. Unable to express myself in any of the commonly used languages there, I began to develop my own performative practice as an alternative way of communication.

After a long and difficult period of adaptation in my new homeland, I learned new languages, only to realise that we do not understand each other in the same way because we do not perceive things in the same way. Eventually, meeting new people and increasing the audience’s involvement in my activities became more important to me than the overwhelming need to be understood.

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𝐓𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐳 𝐒𝐳𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐚

(b. 1970 in Poland) graduated in 1998 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw, Poland. Currently he lives in Helsinki, Finland. Szrama has practiced action art since 1993 and contributed actively to the development of Finnish performance art. Characteristic features of his work are the use of spectators, active participation of the audience and improvisation. Such a strategy embeds his presentations into the tradition of understanding performance art as a process art, where the very moment of creation is essential.

For the last 20 years Szrama has been regularly performing in numerous events and festivals across Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa, North and South America, including venues such as the Museum Reina Sofia in Madrid, Göteborgs Konsthall, Scandinavia House in New York, Bangkok Art Centre, Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu, Helsinki Kunsthalle, Ulster University in Belfast, Adam Art Gallery for Victoria University in New Zealand etc.

Further, over the past 17 years, he has been an active performance art event organizer. He has curated and co-curated over 50 live art events. In 2008-2016 he worked as a producer, designer, technical manager and was responsible for organizing live art events at HIAP – Helsinki International Artist Programme. More recently, Szrama has been leading workshops and performance courses at art schools and universities.