A selection of art I’ve seen and admired

from October through December 2016, including Auckland, Gdańsk, Milan and Bydgoszcz

Caption to film stills (above): By members of the Hungarian conceptual artists group Pésci Műhely (1968-1980), Szijártó Kálmán & Károly Kismányoky, "The Separation of Trees - White-painted Wood" 1971, silent film documentation. Hungarian action art of the 1970s. See document source.

Caption for film still (above): Zdizsław Sosnowski, "Eating" action 1972, 8mm film still; duration: 2’50’’. Ambient sound. Watch the video at MoMA Warsaw online archive.

Footage of a performance during which the artist simply ate his meal. Sosnowski situated his action in the reality that was ultimately reduced to the verge of banality and obviousness. He created a structure that reproduced this reality, which served to verify the extent to which the performative medium, and also photography and film by extension, can reflect the reality-in-itself. The artist’s strategy generates a performative ready-made.

References: Ł. Ronduda, F. Zeyfang (eds.), Warsaw 2006; Ł. Ronduda, Polish Art of the 70s Avant-garde, Warsaw 2009; Zdzisław Sosnowski, Goalkeeper, 1977, unpublished, Archive of the Centre for Academic Information and Documentation, CCA Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw. [ŁM, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw]