Performance by Kolektyw Zgrzyt
(Clash Collective)
Mo Tomaszewska, Natalia Sara Skorupa
Presented as part of Rozziew, Open Eye Art Festival
Curatoress: Ada Markowska
Photos and video: Piotr Werewka
(Clash Collective)
Mo Tomaszewska, Natalia Sara Skorupa
Presented as part of Rozziew, Open Eye Art Festival
Curatoress: Ada Markowska
Photos and video: Piotr Werewka
The gesture of patting someone on the back commonly functions as a sign of support, approval, and solidarity. In the performance Koleżanki (Colleagues), however, it reveals its ambivalence, becoming a tool for exposing violent mechanisms that may emerge within collective situation – particularly at moments when declared equality begins to give way to hierarchization, and an ethics of care and cooperation turns into a means of control. Violence never appears suddenly and
does not have to be spectacular. It develops slowly – through repetition, lack of response,
and the group’s silent consent.
The action begins in harmony. Two anonymous figures stand close to each other, dressed identically. The patting is gentle, rhythmic, almost soothing. The roles are interchangeable, the gesture repeatable
and symmetrical—everything suggests equality and reciprocity. With each subsequent sequence, however, the intensity of the gesture increases. The same movement, performed in the same rhythm and number of repetitions, gradually ceases to function as a gesture
of support and becomes an act of domination and violence.
and symmetrical—everything suggests equality and reciprocity. With each subsequent sequence, however, the intensity of the gesture increases. The same movement, performed in the same rhythm and number of repetitions, gradually ceases to function as a gesture
of support and becomes an act of domination and violence.
Koleżanki (Colleagues) refer to the moment when communal action and communication begin to disintegrate. When power emerges and equality recedes into the background, a gesture
of solidarity can surprisingly easily be transformed into a tool
of exclusion – of what Gombrowicz described as “upupianie” (infantilization) and silencing those who begin to recognize abuses and refuse to submit to the dominant narrative.
Within a mechanism sustained by dependencies and loyalties built over years, as well as by the fear of taking a stance,
what becomes crucial is recognizing the moment when
the proverbial “patting on the back” simply begins to hurt.
of solidarity can surprisingly easily be transformed into a tool
of exclusion – of what Gombrowicz described as “upupianie” (infantilization) and silencing those who begin to recognize abuses and refuse to submit to the dominant narrative.
Within a mechanism sustained by dependencies and loyalties built over years, as well as by the fear of taking a stance,
what becomes crucial is recognizing the moment when
the proverbial “patting on the back” simply begins to hurt.