Common Space, Personal Space * Student Section — Poland on Prague Quadrennial

Credits

Curator, Designer - Architect of Exhibition:
Grzegorz Kowalski

List of exhibiting students: Julia Bui-Ngoc, Piotr Chuchla, Katarzyna Granica, Kaśka Klimkowska, Alicja Raczkowska, Tomas Rafa, Philippe Rębosz, Jacek Różański, Karol Sienkiewicz, Ewa Śmigielska, Wojtek Tymicki, Wojtek Urbański
Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Faculty of Media Art and Stage Design, Studio of Audiovisual Space

Description

The task of Common Space, Personal Space is one of the tasks that form part of study course at the Studio of Audiovisual Space. It is included in the syllabus, along with the other exercises, but the rules of performing the task make it unique. The participants (the students and the teacher) are in a shared space and personal space. All of us act on equal terms. Each participant has his or her own defined space and access to a space that is an area of common activity. Example: personal spaces consist of a coloured circle in which their owners stand, but these circles are located in the common space – the studio floor divided into two parts: black and white. This arrangement makes it possible to define the features of one’s own “language” of behaviour within one’s own circle, and to introduce this “language” of form into the common space, i.e. the black or white studio space.

We assume that we will not use words but, generally speaking, visual signals – e.g. signs, colours, forms, movements, or gestures depending on the interaction between the participants. Example: marking one’s presence in different places using one’s own colour. The objective of Common Space, Personal Space is to actively participate in the process of communication without using verbal means. It is an unpredictable process, one that depends on the ingenuity of the participants and “temperature” of the contact between them. It is different each time, depending on the participants’ abilities and temperaments. We agree on one thing: participants abstain from excessively destructive actions. This self-restriction is necessary when working without codified rules, since such a process is easily disrupted by a careless gesture. Our experience shows, however, that destructive actions can open up new directions. In such a case, we accept the action because it may introduce a new quality to the communicative process. This interactive and interpersonal process requires good will and great intuition. Participants must open themselves up to unpredictable situations, accept the expressions made by the others, and show an ability to respond and improvise. All participants may reveal their personalities, but not at one another’s expense.

The project was produced by The Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute as part of the Prague Quadrennial 2011.

Financed by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.