The Way to Tegel Airport

The series of photographs, The Way to Tegel Airport, is an element of a project titled 22 zlecenia [22 Tasks], which Rajkowska carried out as part of her study visit to Berlin. She became an artist for hire – anybody who wanted could ask her to perform an activity (anything but sex and violence). As a result, she accepted such jobs as doing drawings for an anti-globalist organization; she supported honorary blood donation, and accompanied a traveler to the airport.

Each of the photographs documenting the execution of the different tasks had a short description, which was an integral part of the whole work. The artist had to constantly enter ever new roles and manipulate her identity, while the participants had to trust a stranger and consent to conditions under which it was possible to carry out the task together. In each of the commissions it was important to treat the moment of meeting the stranger as exceptional – for a longer period of time one had to find oneself in a new arrangement, negotiate one’s space and define one’s relations with another human being.

The impressions and conclusions arising from being together constitute the most important effect of the 22 Tasks. The experience of being in relation to another person is the first step towards recognizing similarities and differences, accepting otherness and seeing the space where we live as common, belonging to everyone. Rajkowska’s works lie somewhere on the border of artistic and social activities. As such, they demand a constant redefinition of the notion of art. The project discussed here is interpreted as a demythologization of the status of an artist, particularly in the context of his/her social situation (faced with the need to offer him/herself for hire), but also as a project from the group of artistic activities which actively address the public. It does not seem, however, that Rajkowska wanted to change anybody’s attitude towards contemporary artistic activities or to bring art closer to the broader public. She simply takes a better look at both the artist, as well as the viewer – showing his/her horizons and ideas about the creator, as well as his/her capacity to open up to another human being.

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