The motifs at the core of the performance Carmen figuratum are the eponymous visual poem and the metaphor of the pyramid.
Concrete poetry, as a “linguistic” form of intermedia art, naturally aligns with performance. Like almost every utterance, a visual poem enters into spatial relations with gesture and movement whose structure is shaped by the structure of my body (its relative symmetry, the reach of my arms, etc.).
The opening motif is an excerpt from Wings by Simmias of Rhodes. I use only one half of the visual text – i.e., one wing – to symbolize disrupted flight and, consequently, catastrophe. The second motif is the geometric grid of a truncated pyramid – a mastaba – that creates the illusion of a cross on a pedestal and, when inverted, becomes a sign of order.
I write a poem and conceal the act of calligraphy inside a several-meter-long tunnel – a sleeve. The process of writing, as well as its result, is hidden from both the writer and the observer.
I read a text written on a spool of canvas tape, a portion of which I can stretch between my arms, extended as far as they can reach. The spool’s length far exceeds the dimensions of my body, allowing only fragments to be read. As it has to be constantly moved, the tape entangles both me and the viewer in the loop of an endless story.
I demonstrate – text becomes a tool of resistance against the brutalisation of its function. The common Polish phrase “to step into someone’s life uninvited” becomes the basis for a metaphor formed by placing the sign of a shoe upon a word.
The structure of the performance follows the principle of the inverted pyramid, symbolizing a story told from the end. I call this the reversal of events. I am interested in the synthesis of concept and its sensual manifestation linked to the figure of the pyramid.
ph. Justyna Staniszewska, Zamek Ujazdowski