2022, FLIGHT, Malta Festiwal, The bank of the Warta river, Poznań

BERGAMOT GROUP

FLIGHT 2022

Flashmob
2022
Malta Festiwal, The bank of the Warta river, Poznań, Poland

1,30 h

...In the Poznań Flight, the artists themselves also participated, joining various groups, The Action thus had the character of a collective action, where the division between audience and creators was blurred and everyone followed one instruction. My personal experience of the event is surprisingly revealing. Firstly, I experienced how hard work it is to carry another human being, even in several people and even lightly, especially if you have to move fast. A certain kind of frenzy was part of the performance. Secondly, it was a kind of group action, a game in which you can lose yourself and establish a completely different relationship with a stranger with whom/whom you suddenly have such close tactile (physical) contact. Moreover, the whole thing suddenly turned into a kind of race between groups, so a new kind of community, but also exercise, was created. Thirdly, the question of trust, towards others, the belief that one will not suddenly be let go, and the fear of falling, became extremely important. In such a position of suspension one is almost completely incapacitated and totally dependent.
But how is it possible for artists to offer us this experience through a kind of group activity shared with them that can be seen as entertainment? Participation in Flight, however, is not as simple as it seems and involves for many a certain overstepping of boundaries. For one has to allow the close and trusting touch of a stranger, a state of one's own inertia and a certain surrender to others, as if in a situation of weightlessness. This is why the metaphor of flight is such an excellent symbolic device, on many levels...

Paweł Leszkowicz