A short film that features at its centre a single protagonist. The visual narrative is grotesque, mocking, but also bitter in its expression. It relates to the observations of both life and art and what happens at their intersection, and speaks of the condition of contemporary man, especially the artist. It is simultaneously a caricature, a joke, and a grim reflection. The title of the video, A Good Artist is a Dead Artist, refers to a phrase repeated by exhibition organisers and curators, who claim that it is easier to produce exhibitions featuring work by dead artists. The mannequin head appearing in the film is Knaflewski’s alter ego. The artist acquired it from the owner of a hat shop in Ruda Śląska. Knaflewski recalled: “I named it Gustaw and took it to Poznań, and we’ve lived together for more than a decade now. In my film, the dead artist pulls me to his side to the extent that my facial features begin to resemble the face of a pre-war film actor. I recorded the sound for the film using an instrument known as the electric coffin – this object also plays a symbolic role in the film.”

Leszek Knaflewski is a visual artist and an outstanding educator. He was born and lived in Poznań. He created installations, objects, photographs, drawings, video works, and audio-performances. From the 1990s, his work was situated at the intersection of visual arts and music. He constructed object-instruments, such as the “Electric Coffin,” which he played and used in acoustic spatial installations. Between 1980 and 1985, he studied at the State Higher School of Visual Arts in Poznań (later known as the Academy of Fine Arts, currently University of the Arts Poznań), where he obtained a degree in painting. He was a co-founder, member (1983–1990), and co-author of all public exhibitions of the Koło Klipsa group. He collaborated with several musical formations, including Rasa, Sten, Socrealism, Art Sound Project, Drum Machina, and Kot. Since 1990, he has been involved in teaching. He was a professor at the Faculty of Intermedia at the University of Arts in Poznań and at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Zielona Góra. His former students include artists such as Wojciech Bąkowski, Piotr Bosacki, and Konrad Smoleński. Knaflewski exhibited in Poland and abroad. He passed away in 2014.