Being & Doing - ACE144.4

"‘Romantic Manifestation’ [Jerzy] Bereś Poland 1981": Bereś, kneeling naked, chops up a board on which the word "exhibition" is painted, arranges the wood into a pyramid shape and sets fire to it. Woman’s VO (in Polish; translated) explains that she saw him perform in the city square in Krakow in 1981, putting bundles of kindling, each with a word on it, into a circle made of the same word, which he then set fire to. The VO notes that this "the last manifestation of spirit", took place three weeks before martial law was declared. Photograph of snow-covered square with trucks circling around. "‘Meditation for the Condition of Poland’ Natalia LL Poland 1981": Natalia LL seated, reflected, in angle of windows. Woman’s VO (in Polish and English) explains that younger artists in Poland are highly sensitised to cultural development in the capitalist world. They face a dilemma caused by their own socialist ethos coming up against the cultural dynamic of the West. Darkness. Voices of young women over. Photograph of woman in police officer’s uniform; intercut with photographs of woman walking naked in crowded streets: "‘Self Identification’ Ewa Partum Poland 1980": Photograph of the two women confronting each other. Woman’s VO (Polish) not translated. Darkness. Man’s VO "In the words of a distant intellectual, Adam Michnik, real Poland has ‘shown itself to be a giant with legs of steel but hands of clay, facing a regime with feet of clay but hands of steel’". Black and white film of man, watched by audience, smashing iron bar against two table tops. "Raśa Todosijević, Yugloslavia, 1979: ‘East and West. Them and Us. Then and Now.’"