THE BARONESS BALL GOWN – performance in

8th September 2007
time : at the sun set
music : life performance by the New Art Ensemble – Mozart, Prokofiev, Tchaykowski, Strauss
desert : home made cakes and tea

The “Widok” art initiative is a platform for the artists and the curators that already for 7 years has been involved in organizing alternative art and social orientated projects on the region of Bialostotczyzna (East Poland on the border with Byelorussia). The initiative, located in the little village in the middle of the National Park of Knyszynska Forests, nests creative activities that are connecting the past and present, preserving the cultural and environmental landscape of Podlasie and bringing the awareness of the cultural heritage to the local people.

This year we are organizing a project in the village of Heronimowo, located on the border of Poland and Byelorussia.

The project is an initiative of the artist/curator and the cofounder member of “Widok” art foundation Agnieszka Tarasiuk. For the location she chose the ruins of a palace of the local noble dating back to the XVIII century: Baroness Rumm. Later it became a communist state run farm.

Now completely run down and inhabited by unemployed people unable to undertake any action to change their situation. The combination of these two contradicting concerning past structures are the inspiration for the project. Agnieszka Tarasiuk brings together on this specific location a fashion designer, a film maker, a classical ensemble and as a main character, a group of local teenagers to create an event that is going to reflect on the historical conditions of the area in the manner of modern art practice.

The project consists of 3 parts:

1. A workshop of clothes-making.

A group of female teenagers (11-17 years old) will design fantasy ball gowns under the supervision of Monika Jakubiak, a fashion designer and lecturer on the St. Martins College of Art and Design in London. The important part of this process will be an inside into its historical context.

2. A performance.

The completed designs will be presented on the celebration during the elegant evening celebration accompanied by the music of the ensemble in the location of the abandoned old palace park.

The local community will actively participate in the preparation of the evening by making the pastry and joining the dancing celebration.

There will be also a shuttle bus organized by the leading polish modern art Gallery Arsenal in Bialystok for the event.

3. A film documentation.

An art documentary will be made during a process of preparation and on the actual evening of the performance. The professional filmmaker are involved in the project.

4. Media coverage.

There is a number of magazines, newspapers, tv and radio stations involved in the media coverage of the project, among others:

Gazeta Wyborcza (a leading polish daily newspaper), 3rd channel of the Polish national radio broadcast, BBC radio “Woman’s hour”.

The project refers to the situation in art world that is declaring the connection to the marginal culture without actually interacting with it. It usually only communicates with the elite art world. This project takes upon reversal activity; an exclusive music ensemble will perform in the forgotten village on the outskirts of the cultural map. The artists will give up their artistic competencies to the local participants of the project making them partially responsible for the outcome of the event.

The gallery public is being taken out of their usual settings to the fringe of the culture. The question of art as a tool for the social transformation is being stated. For the local community the project is an experimental history class, as well as stimulation of their ability to take risks and break through the wall of impossibilities of the life in the small village.