Manifestation description:

The interior of a student club, the Na Piętrze Gallery, Łódź. Rather tightly arranged chairs form an uneven circle; in the center there is a place where the action is to take place. A lot of people gathered in the gallery, some sitting on chairs, others standing. The artist sits in the first row among the audience. In the middle of the space on the floor rests a big slice of wood cut from a log; diameter 50-60 cm, thickness about 10 cm. Next to it there are: a piece of white fabric, a bottle of cognac and a glass. In the distance there is a bowl of water, a soap and a towel. The artist stands up, applies white paint to the soles of his shoes and, circling as large a circle as possible, walks around the piece of wood. He imprints white marks around it. He walks to his chair and undresses, puts his clothes on the chair. Naked, he walks over to the log slice and uses a brush to apply red paint to his knees. He kneels next to the wood and stares at the growth rings visible in the wooden slice. Painting a green outline around the navel, he transfers the shape of the smallest one to his body. He then paints further rings. The front part of his body gets covered with thin green lines. At first, they are concentric circles, later only fragments of them. The artist puts red paint on one hand, folds his hands and spreads the paint. He then places them on the wood imprinting his hands on it. There follows a mutual stigmatization of the tree and the man. The artist stands up. The red marks of his knees remain on the floor. He walks over to the bowl of water, washes his hands and wipes them with a towel. He takes a piece of white cloth lying on the floor and makes a hip band from it. On the front of the hip band he paints a green fig leaf. He walks over to the trunk, takes an axe and chops off a large chunk of it. He divides the chopped off piece into four parts with the axe. On the flattened “forehead” of the truncated trunk he writes with red paint the words: Altar of Honesty, then places the trunk on the four blocks he has just chopped off. The table of the “Altar” is ready. The artist places a bottle of cognac and a glass on it. He fills the glass with cognac, drinks it and invites the gathered people to help themselves to cognac and enter into discussion. The discussion slowly unfolds while cognac disappears. When the bottle is empty, the artist ties a white band with a fig leaf removed from his hips on it. He returns to his chair, gets dressed and sits down. After cleaning up the bowl of water and hiding the axe and paintbrushes, the circle of white footprints remains for possible display with a table in the center improvised from pieces of wood bearing the inscription the Altar of Honesty. On it stands an empty cognac bottle tied with a white band bearing a green fig leaf painted on it.

„Katalog twórczości Jerzego Beresia, 1954-1994 – część II: Manifestacje”, opr, Jerzy Hanusek [w:] Jerzy Bereś. Zwidy, wyrocznie, ołtarze, wyzwania, red. Aleksandra Węcka (Poznań: Muzeum Narodowe w Poznaniu, 1995), s. 114