Filmoteka Muzeum

Anna Niesterowicz is interested in that which is “lost in translation” and cannot be explained, which belongs to the field of irrational associations, is “outside culture”, is a result of error, misunderstanding, and especially that which affects emotions and directly touches upon reality.

For the “uninitiated”, street slang (and for example graffiti or the various dress codes) represents a hermetic language. Niesterowicz invited young girls dressed in sport clothes to perform gestures familiar from hip-hop videos in front of the camera. “Translation” subtitles appear at the bottom of the screen. And when we think we have got what we expected, it turns out to be just naïve banalities combined with empty gestures. Perhaps this is because the “speakers” are teenage girls from Poland rather than big, serious Afro-Americans from Brooklyn? Perhaps the “translation” is bad? Or perhaps someone simply jibes at our expectations that everything can be explained, translated and named?

Quoted from: Image/Text, brochure of the screening, Tate Modern, London, 25th November 2006, curators: Ł. Ronduda, M. Woliński.

Year: 2002
Duration: 3'32''
Language: English
Source: BETA SP

© Anna Niesterowicz, courtesy Foksal Gallery Foundation

Acquisition date: Apr 5, 2012
Acquisition: deposit
Ownership form: deposit