Filmoteka Muzeum

The film Videoperformance marks Zarzycka’s return to the film medium. Since the mid-1990s, the artist worked mainly in the field of performance art. She then returnedto film after 15 years enriched by the experience of her many live artistic actions. In the book Ewa Zarzycka – Heyday, Agnieszka Rayzacher describes the work as follows: “In 2008 she made the movie Videoperformance, which is a return to the ideas of her earlier films. ... there is an interrupted visual narration. The audio recording is a collection of self-commentaries. Again, the action takes place in Kazimierz, where her previous films were made. The artist decides to incorporate elements of landscape into her work, exposing the bucolic beauty of the countryside. She places herself walking along a gorge, walking through a meadow, through a blooming orchard covered with lush greenery. She interlaces these scenes with images filmed in a ruined house, during searching for stones or on the river embankment. These ‘aesthetic outings’ lead her to the conclusion stated in the film: ‘This sensitivity, sensitivity to visual conditions has not gone dull, but in the end it does not bring anything in, does not serve anything.’ This is an interesting paradox in Zarzycka’s most recent films, which thrive on visuality but at the same time question it.” Despite its visual character, Zarzycka’s practice revolves around words, while her speech and verbal statements are what seduces the viewer. Agnieszka Rayzacher adds: “The video sphere seems to be the background for the audio sphere” and describes the audio layer as a “spoken auto-commentary which makes us see language as reality.”

 

(ZK)

Year: 2008
Duration: 12'32"
Language: Polish
Source:

© Ewa Zarzycka