Filmoteka Muzeum

Performance within the exhibition Antyciała (Antibodies), CCA Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw.

One of Wyrzykowski's three actions from the 1990s in which the artist directly addressed the political developments of the period in Poland. The other two performances were Swearing the President into Office – 23 December 1995, 7 PM and Nato Now! Safe Poland or no Poland at All.

Copyright was a reaction to the enactment of new copyright laws in Poland in 1994. The artist had the internationally recognised copyright symbol tattooed on his body. During the procedure, Wyrzykowski was reading out selected passages from the new law.

On another level, the artist also modifies here the status of the body, which becomes a work of art. Yet, it is difficult to unambiguously state whether the gesture serves the empowerment of the body or rather its reification. What comes to mind is an act of seizing control of the body and highlighting its significance: the artist-performer underlines the meaning of the body in his art by manifesting the right that he holds to it as an inherent element of his art. However, since copyright belongs to the sphere of commercial laws, when Wyrzykowski's body becomes a work of art, it automatically becomes a commodity.

(KK)

Year: 1995
Duration: 60'38"
Language: Polish
Source:

© Piotr Wyrzykowski