Filmoteka Muzeum

Throughout two summer months in 2006 Robert Kuśmirowski roamed the canals underneath the streets of Łódź. Historic, stretching for kilometres, and often out of use for decades, they were thoroughly searched by the artist hoping to find traces of human presence. The search had a flavour of mystery to it – the artist explored the canals like a cluttered attic, finding forgotten and disposed objects, letters, writings on the wall. The project prepared in cooperation with the Łódź-based gallery Manhattan concluded with an exhibition of the found artifacts. The artist had to produce some of them himself. Hand-made perfect imitations (or, as is the case with Canal, Baudrillard’s simulacra, copies without originals) are Kuśmirowski’s trademark. He treats objects as carriers of meanings and symbols, reservoirs of memory. His installations and performances, such as the action documented in Canal tell the story of lasting and fading away, strongly marked for vanitas.

References: G. Jarzębowska, „Kanał” Roberta Kuśmirowskiego. Pamięć ukryta w przedmiocie i kłopoty z teorią, Obieg.pl (19.10.2006, updated: 31.12.2008); K. Sienkiewicz, Robert Kuśmirowski, Culture.pl (10.2006, updated: 06.2011).
 

(AK)

Year: 2006
Duration: 29'26"
Language: Polish
Source: DigiBeta

© Robert Kuśmirowski, courtesy Foksal Gallery Foundation

Acquisition date: Nov 24, 2011
Acquisition: deposit
Ownership form: deposit