Polish Performance Archive

Description by Filmoteka Muzeum

Documentation of an artistic action at the “Wschodnia” Gallery in Łódź in 1995. The artists describe the action as a “petformance,” and claim to act merely as curators of the work.

A device located inside an annex on architecture serves to pump sacramental wine with no added preservatives. The smell of fermentation attracts tiny fruit flies, who do not function merely as a component, but become authors of the work.

Drosophila melanogaster is a species commonly used in genetics research; some of the genes of the species can also be found in humans. It was also one of the first insects used in bioastronautics and the first animal taken by humans to cosmic space. Fruit flies are killed in scientific experiments on a regular basis.

Note courtesy of the artists.