Boundries of Landscape * Student Exhibition — Poland on Prague Quadrennial

Credits

Artists:
Małgorzta Wdowik,
Robert Lassig,
Tamara Antonijevic

Executive Producer:
Anna Galas-Kosil
Coordinator:
Edyta Zielnik

Spokesperson:
Łukasz Orłowski

Description

The Boundaries of Landscape deals with a concept of imagined scenography and, in connection to that, with a notion of landscape, memory and collective history. The room is empty; viewers create visual content themselves through sound, their own experiences and interaction with other people.

This project deals with the concept of imagined scenography and in connection with that, with a notion of landscape in Western theory, art and literature. The whole space is divided into few sound territories, which are based on texts that representing different approaches to ideas of landscape, memory and collective history. Small groups of the audience are invited to explore the space with headphones. Each sound spot is composed depending on the function and the length of the text. According to a specific position in which a visitor is located, he or she is able to hear sound assigned to this territory. Performativity of each text or soundscape lies not in its representation, but in the imagination of each and every ‘’viewer’’, who is invited not only to create individual experiences, but also to question his/her role as a member of the audience.

There is only one text that can be heard during the whole performance and this is Description of the Painting by Heiner Mueller. The text raises questions about perception, different points of view and the possibility to ‘’frame the whole picture’’ in the sense of collective experience and common history. Other texts deal with the experience of public and private space, with imagination and perception, but also with the expectations of a visitor of an installation or a museum, who either experiences a work of art as something delivered to him, or becomes a part of an artistic installation. Here, we would like to present elements of theatre and artistic installation in relation to a viewer who is encouraged to create visual content all by himself. Throughout interaction with other members of audience one could also create a small collective experience and break distinctiveness of an individual experience. Upon creating entry opportunities for other viewers, without headphones, a clear though invisible division is revealed between the audience being “part of the installation” and that which is outside and only observes a performance. For those ‘’outside’’, the audience becomes performers and vice versa. Visitors have to find the boundaries of the designed territory through their own experiences and their interaction.

The Boundaries of Landscape project was nominated for the Promising Student Talent award.

Photos

fot. Markéta Bendová

The project was produced by The Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute as part of the main program of the Prague Quadrennial 2019.

Financed by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.