Filmoteka Muzeum

Marek Janiak’s Liberating Exercises provides a record of short activities that consist of irrational struggle, often escaping the capacity of the human body and material reality. Janiak would perform these short activities with no prior preparation, making an allowance for potential failure. His Exercises, recorded by Zbigniew Libera, demonstrates the idea of Embarrassing Art promoted by Łódź Kaliska. The concept was introduced by the artists affiliated with the group (Janiak, among others) during a plein air in Osieki in 1981. The act of eliciting embarrassment, confusion and the uncertainty of the status, value and meaning of the activities, marked an attempt at a release from stiff neo-avantgarde forms.

Description based on: Ukryta dekada. Polska sztuka wideo 1985-1995 / The Hidden Decade. Polish Video Art 1985-1995, red. P. Krajewski, V. Kutlubasis-Krajewska, Wrocław 2010.