2009, ORGANIC LIFE, Poznań of Poets, KC Zamek, Poznań

BERGAMOT GROUP

ORGANIC LIFE

Performance
2009
Poznań of Poets, KC Zamek, Poznań, Poland

45 min

The performance action took place in the Fireside Room of the Imperial Castle in Poznan, a building with a complex and loaded history. Erected in 1910 as the residence of Wilhelm II, it was converted for use as Hitler's quarters during World War II. This context of imperial and totalitarian power provided an important backdrop.

Volha Maslouskaya and Raman Tratsiuk cut through the massive trunk, 110 cm in diameter, with a “your-my” saw, requiring synchronized movement by both performers. This was accompanied by music by Mozart, Strauss and Vivaldi, overlaid with an amplified, rough cutting sound. After about half an hour, when fatigue was setting in, the audience began to join in the action - people from the audience helped and exchanged while sawing, which gave the action a communal and open dimension.

The contrast of elegant, classical music with the brutal sound of the saw built an ambiguous effect - a reminder of the prestigious aesthetics of power and its predilection for high culture, juxtaposed with the harshness of labor and destruction. The gesture of cutting wood became a metaphor for the difficult effort to face the weight of history and the attempt to decolonize it - a symbolic “cutting” of official narratives and their critical rethinking.

The performance was at the same time a sound experiment, an exploration of relationships and interaction, as well as a commentary on the building's past - monumental, oppressive, and in need of a new, conscious reading.