14 XI 1975

Labirynth Gallery, Lublin

the manifestation accompanied the “sculpture exhibition” at the Labirynth gallery

Manifestation description:

Action takes place in the Culture Centre Art Gallery “Labyrinth” in Lublin. In the venue there are placed: a thick untreated board supported on a stump and two long sticks, one attaching the board to the stump while with the other one can put it into a swinging motion. The stump bears the inscription: OŁTARZ ROZWESELAJĄCY 14 XI 1975 (CHEERING UP ALTAR 14 XI 1975).  The board measuring 2 meters by 40 centimeters bears the inscription OGNISKO KULTURY ŻYCIA (FIRE OF THE CULTURE OF LIFE). On one side there is a bundle of chopped wood and a “Culture” magazine, on the other – a bottle of cognac and glasses. Jerzy Bereś enters the room. He is naked. A thick black line is painted on his body running across his forehead, nose, chin, chest, abdomen, all the way to the end of his phallus. He stops by the “Altar”, puts white fabric around  his hips. He takes a bundle of wood, makes a pile of it on the “Altar” and sets it on fire, also the “Culture” magazine. He opens the bottle and pours cognac into glasses while covering the body alternately with green leaf-like paintings, symmetrically on both sides of the line dividing the body. He shares the cognac with the Action participants gathered in the room. The fire on the “Altar” burns out.  Bereś removes the cloth from his hips. He ties it to the “Altar” and leaves the room. The end of Action. The “Cheering Up Altar” action was created in reference to the “Author’s Altar” action performed by Jerzy Bereś on May 2, 1973  at the BWA Gallery in Lublin during the Student Theater Spring. The starting point of “Cheering up Altar” was the end of the “ Author’s Altar ” (Andrzej Mroczek).