Trans-Atlantyk

The issues which interest Piotr Żyliński are encapsulated in the title of one of his exhibitions, Roots*. Most of Żyliński’s works revolve around identity, its roots and conditions. Żyliński takes up a very critical perspective on the Romantic myth, which is considered a fundamental trait of the Polish mentality. In his ascetic, intellectually sophisticated videos, photographs and objects, Żyliński explores bombastic ideas, martyrdom and petrified national and historical symbols.

Żyliński’s work Trans-Atlantyk zooms in on all these issues. Topics explored here include the formation of identity from the perspective of an individual rather than a nation or society. The video is a recording of a performance in which Żyliński was reading Witold Gombrowicz’s novel Trans-Atlantyk while drinking vodka. The bottle becoming empty marks the passage of time, which is also evident in the progressing condition of the artist: from homeostasis through excitation to complete drunkenness.

Żyliński used a text whose message can be read as the motto for his own quest. Żyliński repeats Gombrowicz’s ironic gesture ridiculing tradition which restrains individual choices, socially imposed norms of behaviour, and a specific understanding of Polishness. Inebriated, he sheds the “form,” eludes normative patterns of behaviour, loses control of speech, turns sophisticated literature into gibberish. By reading Trans-Atlantyk, Żyliński suggests that Gombrowicz’s diagnosis of the Polish mind-set remains valid. Yet, Żyliński himself does not assume the role of the jester: the border between the protagonist of the performance and the object of his criticism is blurred. Żyliński exposes national myths and implies that the roots of identity are rotten. Yet, he does not completely distance himself from them as he is aware that they have shaped him. Żyliński’s action as an artistic gesture is an expression of opposition. However, his reading of Gombrowicz’s fiction when getting drunk is not much different from the “I want it all” attitude criticised by the writer: complaining while persistently holding on to national myths.

Izabela Kopania

translated from the Polish by Marcin Łakomski

*  Roots, Galeria Stereo, Poznań, 19 February – 21 March 2010.