In the same week that film director David Cronenberg remarked that: “Sigmund Freud has never been more relevant” – whilst promoting his new movie A Dangerous Method based on the psychoanalysis founder’s work and relationships – we sat down to speak
In the same week that film director David Cronenberg remarked that: “Sigmund Freud has never been more relevant” – whilst promoting his new movie A Dangerous Method based on the psychoanalysis founder’s work and relationships – we sat down to speak to artist Agnieszka Polska whose animated film The Forgetting of Proper Names is taken from Freud’s eponymously-named essay (also used for the voice-over) and forms the title of Calvert 22’s latest group exhibition which runs until March 18.
Centering around the vibrant and contemporary culture of Poland, The Forgetting of Proper Names features the work of three young and dynamic Polish artists – Wojciech Bąkowski, Anna Molska and Agnieszka Polska – whose work has never been shown in London before. Exploring the subjectivity of memory, language and translation, and the way the past is reshaped over time and reinterpreted as it crosses cultural boundaries, this latest offering from Calvert 22 – the UK’s only not for profit foundation focused on contemporary art and culture from Russia, CIS Countries and Eastern Europe – forms the starting point for a series of discussions, debates, workshops, gallery talks and bookshops which will take place throughout the duration of the multi-strand two-month season.
What are the main themes and issues behind your work?
My work refers mostly to the processes of creating history and history of art, erroneous interpretations of events or works by other artists. I’m interested in the phenomenon of translation that happens when the viewer encounters an idea and creates his or her version of it. So, I would say, the theme of forgotten or misremembered meanings is crucial for my practice.
"I use found photographic material to construct spaces in which works of art can be understood; these are spaces generated by imperfections of the photographic medium and errors of human memory. This means that my main inspirations are mistakes and confabulation."
Who or what inspires your practice?
I use found photographic material to construct spaces in which works of art can be understood; these are spaces generated by imperfections of the photographic medium and errors of human memory. This means that my main inspirations are mistakes and confabulation. Some of my works are dedicated to great and important artists from Poland, who unfortunately remain largely forgotten at the moment. While recalling unique figures like Włodzimierz Borowski I try to place them back in art history. At the same time you have to be aware that what I recall is not a true image of an artist but rather a myth that I create. My video Sensitization to Colour shows a hypothetical reconstruction of the space in which Borowski’s performance with the same title took place. I recreated the act using preserved photographic documentation and descriptions. I rebuilt all components following my subjective sentiments and feelings rather than staging a complete reconstruction of a historical event.
The title of the exhibition is taken from your animated film The Forgetting of Proper Names – what inspired this piece and what is it all about?
My animation features works by such artists as Robert Smithson, Robert Morris, Walter de Maria and Wolf Vostell presented as a self-driven collection, an orchestra. In the essay, Sigmund Freud examines the situation when familiar names are replaced in our memory by “substitutes” with no reason and cannot be recalled. While I was working on this piece, I was struck by the thought that mechanisms of storing intellectual goods are similar to processes taking place in a neurotic mind where some information seemingly becomes lost or simply contorted. Following that line of thought we may define the processes happening in the art history with such terms as misremembering, misrecollection and, lastly, repressed memory.
Would you say that your Polish heritage informs your practice and how do you feel being grouped in a Polish show?
Many or most of my works are strongly based in Polish reality. The problem of tensions related to the phenomena of memory and past is quite visible in Eastern Europe; after the change of political system 1989, a uniform vision of history faded because of mutual accusations and falsification of archives. Mixture of memories and confabulations served as a basis for the construction of a new image of history. As a member of the first generation that doesn’t remember the era of socialism in Poland – I was four when the system collapsed – I am forced to use that crazy archive in order to understand the society that I am part of.
The Forgetting of Proper Names runs at Calvert 22, London until March 18, 2012. A Dangerous Method, starring Michael Fassbender, is released in UK cinemas on Friday February 10, 2012.
Text by Lucia Davies
