6 XII 1981

Academy of Music in Kraków

Description of the manifestation:

Inside the Auditorium of the Academy of Music (the Higher School of Music) in Krakow, a sit-in is underway at the university. Flags and banners are displayed both outside and in the hall. Guards wearing armbands maintain order, standing by in case of any attempts at provocation or suppression of the strike. In the center of the Auditorium, facing the entrance, stands the Altar of Fulfillment (1978). On the walls, covering the portraits of various dignitaries and university rectors, hang twenty-one canvas panels that originally accompanied the 1978 Romantic Mass. Several containers of paint are placed on the Altar of Fulfillment.
Action: The artist enters naked, takes cups of paint from the Altar, and stands in the center of the Auditorium. He begins to rotate. As he does so, he pauses several times, painting one letter on his body each time, each in a different color. The word OBRAZ (PAINTING) gradually appears.

He then addresses the audience. Paraphrasing a folk saying, he remarks that this is an opportunity to talk to the painting – unlike the old man who spoke to the painting, but the painting never spoke to him. He speaks of the paradox of performance, which involves the mutual objectification of the artist and the audience. One way out of this state, he suggests, is to begin an intersubjective discussion about art. Despite initial hesitation, the discussion develops. After the inscription dries, the artist gets dressed. The conversation continues late into the night.