And then, it turned out that I had died

2016

The diploma cycle And then, it turned out that I had died consists of written texts, audio plays on cassette tapes, and drawings. It is accompanied by a publication: a small book-cassette, a kind of mutant that dwells in Zaskórski’s village.

Some time ago I’ve read a book describing the beliefs of the Siberian peoples. These people divide the world into the middle world, in which they live, the upper world and the lower world. The latter are the lands of the dead. While reading about the lower world, also called hell or lower village, I discovered similarities between it and the place in which I live. At first, I considered it just a coincidence, but as I kept on reading, it occured to me that apparently I had died. I used the tape for two reasons. First of all, if you have a tape deck with an auto reverse, you can listen to the cassette indefinitely. This resembles the world of the dead, in which you wander aimlessly, visiting the same places over and over again. In computer games this phenomenon is called backtracking, in philosophy — an eternal return. Speaking of computer games, my current situation resembles a computer game with no particular goal or end, in which all you can do is search every corner in vain or keep going in circles. Secondly, the tape was probably the cause of my death.

The diploma was supervised by Bogna Otto-Węgrzyn and Grzegorz Hańderek, and was awarded with a distinction. The audio plays were presented at the exhibition in the Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle. They were also released by BDTA label on a limited edition cassette.