Joanna Przybyła’s Decalogue is an artistic diary of a journey, a visual record of a landscape along the road between Poznań and Berlin. It is a work about crossing borders; about a line that unites, rather than divides. It is a meticulously constructed visual–sound composition in which the artist, using the medium of film, portrays her experiences as the author of drawings, sculptures, and audio art installations. Composed of short études, Decalogue creates a symbolic link between Poznań and the wider world through the language of minimalist avant-garde composition. Przybyła’s video can be interpreted as her artistic manifesto, addressing issues of form, as well as aesthetics, and nature (a key component of her work) but also revealing a certain openness to new, unexpected experiences.
AUTHOR’S COMMENT:
<<The way we are conceived is a matter of accident, so what is the meaning of categories such as boundaries, the start of the journey, or final destination?
Based on interviews conducted with Nobel laureates in various fields, Michio Kaku writes: “[…] the shedding of blood in the name of defending borders is a sign of civilisation of the past. Nations that practice this still exists, but will be considered outdated and insignificant in the face of the ubiquitous, instantaneous modes of communication of a new civilisation,” in which the Earth will not be owned by anyone. In relation to the act of establishing boundaries, Kaku quotes Mahatma Gandhi: “[…] the sources of aggression are: prosperity without work, […], knowledge without character, trade without morality, […], politics without principles.”
The film DECALOGUE inspires a different perception of the Earth – a planet without borders.
The 10 short films are observations that explore respect for nature as an order of values; travel notes that bring together different ways of expression in time and space between two cities, in a common Europe.>>
O artystce
Joanna Przybyła, born in 1959 in Racibórz, is an artist working in various media, such as installation, drawing, photography, design, music, architecture, as well as writing. She graduated from first and second music degree in Opole. She studied at the State High School of Fine Arts in Poznań in the studios of Jarosław Kozłowski (drawing) and Jan Berdyszak (sculpture) from 1979 to 1984.
Przybyła has exhibited in Poznań galleries associated with the academy (AT, ON), as well as in group exhibitions at home and abroad, such as the 1st Biennale of New Art in Zielona Góra (1985), the ETC International Art Seminar at Warsaw’s RR Gallery (1987). Her works have been shown, among others, at the Zachęta National Gallery in Warsaw, the National Museum in Poznań, the Foksal Gallery in Warsaw, the Sculpture Center in New York, the Richard Demarco Gallery in Edinburgh, and the MOCAK in Kraków. In 1993–1994, she was awarded a scholarship from the Kościuszko Foundation in New York, in 1995 – a scholarship from the Henry Moore Foundation Yorkshire Sculpture Park. In 1996, she participated in the CEC International Partners Fellowship in New York. Since 2002, she has been working on collaborative projects with architects. Nature plays a special role in Przybyła’s often monumental works. The artist lives and works in Berlin.
