Dominika Olszowy
"A Stone at the Bottom of the Jelly"

  • Dominika Olszowy

    Photo by Daniel Chrobak
  • Dominika Olszowy

    Photo by Daniel Chrobak

Stone can carry a number of promises, above all, one of strength and endurance. The monuments of Warsaw teach us, on the other hand, that the role of authority or unity played out within a particular monument can shift, that its existence isn’t guaranteed, and its condition is, at the very best, fluctuating.

The failure of a monument to endure its legacy, no matter how we define it, certainly occurs more often than a monumental success. What sort of monuments would we have if such conclusions could be noted, the facts accepted, even affirmed? Rather than look for a supposedly stable and established form to represent history, to find a living monument instead?

In creating her monuments, Dominika Olszowy uses methods and materials drawn from traditions that are radically different than those of conventional sculpture and monumental architecture.The pedestal takes on its presiding role, taking the stage, which in this case is the square itself, while the haphazard architecture of the city centre serves as the surrounding décor. In the place of a petrified figure, a pantomime appears, A Stone at the Bottom of the Jelly in the place of words, there are gestures and an object in the hands of a street mime.The starting point for the histories that are being told are objects inspired by monuments once designed by Stanisław Sikora (1911–2000), which are no longer standing. Sikora, a sculptor, created monumental works across three eras, including one made in tribute to the ‘Peasant’s Deed’ (Czyn Chłopski), which was removed from the city of Warsaw in 2006. The objects inspired by the monuments of the past become, in the mime’s hands, keys to opening up a new chapter in the telling of history.

The figure of the mime, his costume, gentle movements and props are elements taken from street theatre traditions and ways of telling stories in the city space that have been crafted by folk customs, often taking place in proximity to historic monuments sculpted in bronze. The idea of recreating history at the toss of a coin requires the audience to play their part in an interaction that shifts the hierarchy inscribed in the monumental relationship, which typically calls for a one-sided presentation. The mime, standing in the square at various intervals over the course of the festival, performs a show that is a little bit different every time, weaving in this idea of changeability into the very essence of how history is passed down. History presented through movement and through a contemporary form of the theatre’s folk traditions must be governed by its own rules. Conventional academic standards no longer prevail, standards that have often stood in the way of sharing certain narratives. History told through the gestures of the mime opens up to the world of the everyday, to unofficial forms and ways of storytelling, for alternative - physical, emotional - ways of experiencing these stories and expands the breadth of topics and associations that could otherwise not be expressed by something made out of bronze or stone. The collection of stories shared in this process focuses around the idea of failure as an element of the artists’ life and their monumental oeuvre, but also failure as a feature of historical processes that are absent across the landscape of statues in bronze. 

Performance: Jerzy Klonowski, mime and actor

Performance hours:

17: 00-19: 00

Performance dates:

Oct 11th, 2019
Oct 12th, 2019
Oct 13th, 2019
Oct 18th, 2019
Oct 19th, 2019
Oct 20th, 2019
Oct 25th, 2019
Oct 26th, 2019
Oct 27th, 2019
Nov 1st, 2019
Nov 2nd, 2019
Nov 3rd, 2019

See also:

Other archival events from that cycle:

DzieńGodzinaNazwa wydarzeniaMiejsce wydarzenia
Cycle WARSAW UNDER CONSTRUCTION 11Monumentomania ZODIAK Warsaw Pavilion of Architecture
Pasaż Stefana Wiecheckiego „Wiecha” 4,
18:00 Vernissage Opening of the exhibition „Monumentomania” ZODIAK Warsaw Pavilion of Architecture
Pasaż Stefana Wiecheckiego „Wiecha” 4,
18:00 Guided tour Curatorial guided tour in Englishof the „Monumentomania” exhibition ZODIAK Warsaw Pavilion of Architecture
Pasaż Stefana Wiecheckiego „Wiecha” 4,
18:00 Guided tour Guided tour in Englishof the „Monumentomania” exhibition ZODIAK Warsaw Pavilion of Architecture
Pasaż Stefana Wiecheckiego „Wiecha” 4,
18:00 Guided tour Guided tour in Englishof the „Monumentomania” exhibition ZODIAK Warsaw Pavilion of Architecture
Pasaż Stefana Wiecheckiego „Wiecha” 4,
18:00 Guided tour Guided tour in Englishof the „Monumentomania” exhibition ZODIAK Warsaw Pavilion of Architecture
Pasaż Stefana Wiecheckiego „Wiecha” 4,