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Kinga Kielczynska (Warsaw – Germany)
in collaboration with Joanna Zielinska (Warsaw)public talk
Department of Fine Arts, Armenian Open University, Yerevan
In ‘Essay on Confusion’ or ‘I’m Angry – I’m Hungry’ (directed by Joanna Zielinska), the characters the artists embody are women artists representing a minority, who have been interpreted in a similar way and marginalized by society in the absence of a key or ability for comprehension. The protagonist artists are characterized by disagreement with the generally accepted orders in which the majority of the society feels safe. They refuse to continue representation of limited ideas easily adopted by masses. The main character in the performance is a vibrant personification of Maria Komornicka (1876-1949) – the Polish tragic poet figure. Her texts touch on gender, ghosts, and the dismissal role of an artist in society. Maria Komornicka, unhappy about her position as a woman/writer, decided to change her gender and declared to be a man under the name of Piotr ‘Proteus’ Wlast. Her radicalism consists in the fact that by writing as a Piotr she took intellectual misogyny ‘on her‘. She focused on herself horrors of a patriarchal culture which allowed the ‘privilege’ of being creator to the man refusing women as a sovereign entity with their own experience. As a Piotr ‘Proteus’ Wlast she also dissociated herself from the women inherent in the intellectual stagnation whose attitude caused acquiescence to the discrimination and isolation from the literary culture. This act was equal to social and literary suicide. Komornicka being oneself in a diverse bunch of philistines is a task of life. Two other characters – a warrior and an artist – also refer to epitome of an outsider establishing necessity of self cognition with no need for social acceptance. Mutiny against any ideological racism is manifesting in the performance by the loud squeak. (There is no speaking in the performance.)
Kinga Kielczynska, born in Warsaw, Poland. Lives and works in Berlin. Graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam and studied at Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam. Working in video, photography, performance, her practice can be described as an ongoing interrogation of the neo-existential position of the individual in the changing conditions; and the crisis of singularity that seem to define contemporary art today. Lately her work is largely associated with the personal reception of art versus the spiritual experience. In the past she has been investigating subjects of female iconography therefore she often uses self-portrait as a starting point. She used to host a TV show dedicated to music related visuals and art in TVP Kultura (Polish cultural channel of national broadcast). Recent shows include ‘Lost&Found’, New Museum NYC; ‘Shadow Space’, Philadelphia, US; ‘Obstinato Tepito’, Mexico; ‘Badische’, Kunstverein, Karslrhue, Germany; ‘Cas Zuidas’, Amsterdam.
Joanna Zielinska lives and works in Warsaw. Recent shows include ‘Do we need more art?’, Zazazozo Gallery; ‘Red Carnation’, Liste 09, Berlin; ‘Kinetic Pyramid’, Art Fair Basel; ‘Talking Tights’, Halle; A/14 , Berlin; ‘Rock’n’Rolke’, Foksal Gallery, Warsaw; ‘Bal in Zalecie – Reconstruction’, Document Gallery and CCA, Warsaw; ‘Prospective Sites’, ARGE Project 5 Plus, Wien, Austria;’Blackmarket for Useful Knowledge and Non-Knowledge’, Mobile Academy, Warsaw; ‘Alphabet’, Meerrettich Gallery, Berlin.