Limited Dictionary
An exhibition by Radek Szlaga
October 25-December 1, 2013
Opening Friday, October 25, 6-9 pm
With a performance by Polish noise-bombers BNNT at 9 pm; free
It is a part of a larger project that I already started working on some time ago.
This time I'd like to focuse more on the city of Detroit, and my family that decided to chase the American Dream and settle down here some time ago ...
so, social issues related to that crucial decision my parents have made:
pursue for a better life,
dreams about a Promised Land,
the journey,
transgression,
becoming,
‘schizo’ identity,
limitations,
separation,
mother issues,
chats,
skype calls,
constant looking back behind the shoulder,
melancholy,
aspirations,
alienations,
dissapointment,
economy (key issue in nowadays America) / informal economy
dual meanings of the symbols, dealing with them and abusing the symbols,
lots of different complexes related to cultural differences, limited vocabulary and other disadvantages
but also
messianism, prometheism (we’ve been taught in the literature class during all these years of education, Polish culture is still based on classical romantic myths)
The story/narration, I want it to be told from a very personal point of view, most likely build on a ‘skeleton’ of my family’s story but I’ll try to make it Universal at the same time
What I’d like to focus on is the obvious dichotomy, division into two worlds (the Old one and the New), two orders, two realities and mythologies. I will combine them into one hybrid and try to make the reality more simple, kinda pop in a way, digestable for the viewer..
When I think of it, I see sheets of a diary or sketches from a travel journal, fractured thoughts... drifting between them...honest, imperfect, but authentic with real intent and meaning ...
BNNT are audio performances by Konrad Smoleński and Daniel Szwed, which are held in open public spaces of a city, or in the institutionalized spaces of galleries and festival venues. The band members travel in a van that serves them as an improvised stage where they perform in balaclavas or masks. Each performance involves a sonic attack with the use of a string instrument modeled on the Tomahawk missile (Konrad Smoleński) and a drum set (Daniel Szwed). This is an interdisciplinary project involving both public performance – the so-called sound bombing – and publishing activity, which the duo have run for a few years now. BNNT has appeared at the Palais de Tokyo (Paris, France), Manifesta 9 (Genk, Belgium), Offen auf AEG (Nuremberg, Germany), and elsewhere.
The exhibition is part of Poland-U.S. Campus Arts Project - a program organised by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Warsaw, Poland. www.culture.pl.
