Laurka/Tribute is the graduation project of Dominika Olszowy. It is a three-channel video, dedicated to the prophecies of Stefan Ossowiecki – a turn of the 20th century Polish engineer interested in paranormal phenomena, such as clairvoyance, and a close friend of Józef Piłsudski. The artist’s figure, dressed in a white robe and visible in the bottom corner of the video, resembles a TV a sign language interpreter. She repeats a selection of prophecies relating to Poland, borrowed from various clairvoyants and prophets from around the world. At first glance, the video resembles an excerpt from an EZO TV broadcast. The three screens offer a panorama of the Cosmos, and the portrayal of its infinite expanse is tailored to popular imaginations and tastes: celestial bodies swirl mystically against a background of colourful galaxies and nebulae. An enthusiastic voice proclaims great cataclysms and epic changes, signs in heaven and earth, the downfall of nations, and the future triumph of our homeland. Traditional Polish romantic mysticism is intertwined with new age exaltation. Olszowy moves beyond the boundaries of pastiche towards the vast cosmic abysses in which, among the stars, Poland’s xenophobia and megalomania are insidiously revealed.
O artystce
Dominika Olszowy, born 1988, studied at the Faculty of Intermedia, University of Arts in Poznań (2009–2012) and in 2011 was the finalist of the Samsung Art Master competition. From 2012 to 2014 she studied at the Faculty of Media Art, Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. In 2018, she received the ING Polish Art Foundation Special Award at Warsaw Gallery Weekend and the 2019 Deutsche Bank Foundation’s Spojrzenia Award. The artist creates pieces on the intersection of various media, and employs, among others, video, performance, sculpture, installation, and scenography. She manages the ephemeral Sandra Gallery, has co-founded the radical hip-hop group Cipedrapskuad, and is a member and co-founder of the motorbike gang, Horsefuckers M.C.