Filmoteka Muzeum

Performance footage from Cracow. The gathered audience received photo cameras handed out by Dawicki, who asked them to document his activities. After a while, he also took out a camera and pointed it at the people. Thus, he blurred the border between the artist and the viewers, balanced the force of gaze and achieved a major shift, which lifted his action to the field of meta-reflection on performance art.

The piece bears testimony to a developing interest of Dawicki in the figure of the artist and the act of performing in front of the audience. Therefore, the performance lends itself to interpretation as a harbinger of the range of later projects “Street Portraits” (2003), “O” (2002), “Ontological Show” (2001), and “Master’s Thesis” (2005) – where the role of the artist was limited to a mere ironic delegation of existential investigations. Dawicki abdicates, willing to escape the fundamental questions of existence, though he clearly realises that he will never be able to flee them.

References: Ł. Ronduda, Warpechowski, Konieczny, Uklański, Bodzianowski, Warpechowski, Dawicki, Warsaw 2010.
 

(ŁM)

Year: 2000
Duration: 4'27''
Language: Polish (english subtitles)
Place: Cracow
Source: VHS

© Oskar Dawicki, courtesy Raster

Acquisition date: Aug 22, 2011
Acquisition: deposit
Ownership form: deposit