23 X 1999

Sandomierz Castle

Description of the manifestation:

In the center of a large castle hall stands a table covered with daily newspapers and current weeklies. Next to it stands a smaller table with a bottle of vodka and vodka glasses.

The artist enters with a rope noose around his neck. He is naked, his penis painted red and white. He walks to the table with the newspapers, removes the noose, and places it on the table. He flips through a newspaper; on the front page is an advertisement for Andrzej Wajda’s film Pan Tadeusz. He shows it to the audience and then weaves it into the knot of the rope. He paints the letter T on the lower right side of his torso. At the smaller table, he fills several glasses with vodka and paints the letter H on the upper left side of his torso. He returns to the newspapers and weaves another sheet into the rope. All the newspapers and magazines were purchased on the day of the event, and the film’s promotion dominated every front page. He continues pacing between the two tables, filling glasses, weaving in more newspapers, and painting letters on his body, until the word TOWAR (COMMODITY) appears on the right side of his torso, read from bottom to top, and on the left side the word HONOR (HONOR), read from top to bottom. Between these words, the artist paints a large exclamation mark, the dot of which becomes the red-and-white penis.  He places the rope noose back around his neck, letting the chain of newspapers fall down his back to his feet. He climbs onto the table and, slowly spinning around, proposes a discussion on attitudes toward art in the context of the painted slogans. Finally, he invites the audience to join him in a toast.

Photo by Zbigniew Warpechowski