JAN SWIDZINSKI
Warsaw, Poland
Untitled
15 minutes, 9/09/2001atatPall Mall Club

by Victor Petrov
The performance by Polish pioneer Jan Swidzinski fits into the context of unity and wholeness of art and the artist's personality. It is a living example of how a performer himself already represents art in its purest form, without requiring any additional sense, meanings, theories, or similar things which can often distract one from the actual concept of art.

The performer carries out some permanently repetitive actions which become the audience's property. It is as if he is constantly forgetting something and returning to the beginning. If you look, however, there is some kind of clear, perhaps miraculous force in this simplicity, making it clear that complexity is unnecessary.

In front of us is a man sitting at a table with a party blowout in his mouth. He carries out the table and chair and brings them back again. Everything is simple and he makes everything seem to happen by itself, but the audience's reaction is so strong when the performance becomes art.