Polish Phrase Book with Art in the Background

Polish Phrase Book with Art in the Background, 2011
artists book
Curator: Agnieszka Sural
Published by: Festiwal Temps d’Images/Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Zamek Ujazdowski, Warszawa

Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Zamek Ujazdowski, Warszawa
Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast, Irlandia Północna
Galeria Mózg, Bydgoszcz

Featured in collections:
Museum of Modern Art, New York
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Tate, London
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Sächsische Landesbibliothek, Dresden, Germany
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, The Netherlands 

Polish Phrase Book with Art in the Background is an artist book that appropriates classic language aids for tourists, except this time enabling the reader to have short conversations about art. The book is divided into thematic chapters like Museum, Gallery, Art School, Opening Night and features short dialogues in the schemes of the English sentence, the Polish translation, and then the English transliteration of Polish.

– Did you hear how much XX’s last painting cost?
Czy słyszałeś ile kosztował ostatni obrax XX?
/chi swi-sha-wesh ee-le co-shto-vaw os-tat-nee ob-ras xx?/

– I don’t know, but I’m sure it wasn’t worth it.
Nie wiem, w każdym razie nie był tyle wart.
/nye vyem, fkazh-dim ra-zye nye biw ti-le vart/

– What do you mean? He’s a genius.
Jak to? Przecież on jest geniuszem.
/yak to? pshe-chyesh on yest ge-nyoo-shem/

– A genius who achieved commercial success, don’t confuse it with an artistic one.
Geniuszem, który odniósł sukces komercyjny – nie mylić z artystycznym.
/ge-nyoo-shem, ktoo-ri od-nyoosw sook-tses ko-mer-tsiy-ni – nye mi-leech z ar-tis-tich-nim/

“The work is an amusing commentary on the phenomena, behaviors and stereotypes, activated by the community of art consumers. The need to create artificial elitism, the presence of winners and losers of artists on the one hand, and parochialism and provincialism on the other, are the elements most characteristic of the Polish art world.” (Anna Mituś)

In addition, a series of short videos were made depicting scenes from Phrasebook, recorded on a green screen in the convention of language learning tutorials with Magdalena Staroszczyk and Lukasz Czapski in the lead roles. The book and accompanying videos were created as part of the Temps d’Images Festival organized by the CCA Zamek Ujazdowski (Warsaw).

During the premiere, Laboratorium Gallery at the Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle was transformed into a film studio. Each audience member could record a scene from Phrasebook or arrange their own according to his/her own idea. The at-large recordings were included in the film collection. The action was repeated in Bydgoszcz, Poland at Brain Gallery and at Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast, Northern Ireland.