11 XI 1968

Krzysztofory Gallery, Kraków

Manifestation description:

A normally functioning café in Krzysztofory. The artist sits at a big table in the corner of the café together with several members of the Krakow Group and guests who have come over from Czechoslovakia. Among them is the sculptor Wladimir Preclik. At one point, he gets up and walks over to a vacant round table standing nearby. He takes off his jacket and shirt. Half undressed, he takes out a rope, bread, a knife, a tube of paint, a brush and a daily newspaper out of his bag. He places all these things on the table. He puts the rope around his neck and tightens it gently. He ties the other end of the rope to a nail in the wall. Then he sits down at the table and puts the newspaper down on the chair. He cuts the bread and carefully paints each slice black. He arranges the painted slices on the table in the shape of a circle. He picks up the daily newspaper and flips through it. Suddenly he lets out a sharp cry of “enough is enough.” He energetically rips the rope from his neck, wraps it in the newspaper and, with a powerful blow, plunges the knife into the wooden tabletop, nailing the package to the center of the table. He then turns to people gathered in the café and asks for a flower. Someone hands over a red rose. The artist unties a string from a hook in the wall and with this end ties the rose to the handle of the knife stuck in the table.

Photo by Jacek Stokłosa