9 X 2007

Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art, Ustka

Session Manifestations. Hommage for Jerzy Bereś

participants: Adva Drori (Israel), Zbigniew Warpechowski (Poland), EstHer ferrer (France), Seijd Shimoda (Japan), Osamu Kuroda (Japan) and art theorists: Jerzy Hanusek, Andrzej Kostołowski, JAn Przyłuski, 07- 09 X 2007

Description of the manifestation:

The artist enters naked with a looped rope around his neck and stops beside two tables. On one table are a cut rose, a folded European Union flag, a small white apron trimmed with lace, three cups filled with paint, and two paintbrushes. On the other table are a chopping board with oscypek cheese, a knife, a bottle of Żubrówka vodka, and glasses arranged around it. He explains the meaning of the rope: It is a kind of reflection on my entire life, because it symbolizes the enslavement we Poles have experienced since 1939. Alongside this symbol of enslavement, the rope is also a symbol of the hangman, and thoughts like these have haunted me since 1939, in the previous century. I was nine years old when the war began and the Germans invaded Poland. For the first time, I wondered whether such a world was worth living in. Then came the fight, but the trace in my consciousness remained. This rope, as a symbol of the past, becomes knotted into knots of memory. He removes the rope from his neck, tightens the noose, and puts on the small white apron. He says: This is not a performance. The purpose of this action, which I consider a meeting with you, is to create a material document. Moving alternately between the two tables, he slices oscypek cheese and pours vodka into glasses at one table, while at the other he paints blue letters on his torso and ties further knots of memory in the rope. At one point, he remarks with a laugh: A kind of performance silence has formed.

When the vodka has been poured and the cheese sliced, the word LOVE appears on his torso, and the knots of memory form a ball. He places several glasses on a board and moves among the audience, offering refreshments. Returning to the center of the room, he unfurls the European Union flag and suspends it in the air. He removes his apron and applies white and red paint to his penis. Holding the board on the opposite side of the flag, he presses a phallic white-and-red imprint into its center. The imprint made through the flag also seals the board. He then spreads the flag on a table like a tablecloth, places the board on top supported by the knotted rope, and sets a bottle with a rose in it in front of the table. Finally, he invites those present to sign the board, authenticating the material document (material proof).