"In the Middle of the Way"
In the 7-channel video installation Anna Konik presents a very personal reflection on life of several people living in different cities. They are homeless, marginalized people but in the same time full of dignity. The artist follows them in their everyday life activities, giving them a chance to present themselves in very different ways. In the same time Anna Konik reflects on her own way on leaving, nomadic, developed between three cities and two countries (Dobrodzien and Warsaw/ Poland and Berlin/ Germany), reflects on her 3 homes. The issue of home and its role in the process of forming the identity is in the very focus.
“In The Middle of the Way consists of eight “videos”. Seven of them relate my encounter with homeless people – contemporary nomads in a different city. They are documentaries from one day I have spent with each of the protagonists. I accompany them in their journey through town, listening to their stories, and at the same time learning the tectonics of various cities. My protagonists do not belong to any particular place, because they carry their homes with them. The mobility of Tadeusz, Herman, Svetlana, Gerard, Hans-Dieter, Jana, Pele and Anna open up a dialogue, where geographical borders, state nationality are not important. However it is their individual stories, experiences and dreams that build their individual identity and confirm their difference in liquid nationality. As Marcin Giżycki writes: “... the videos from “In the Middle of the Way” only together form a whole. Shown simultaneously they form a group portrait, a spacial mosaic of fates, while the gallery's physical space becomes a metaphor for geographical space where the protagonists live (Warsaw, Berlin, Moscow, Youghal in Ireland, Zurich and Dobrodzień). Therefore, moving from one screen to another we, in a sense, repeat the experience of the author – a nomadic artist, as described in the last part of the installation. As if by chance we encounter the same people.” Every person I met dreams of better life, of respect and freedom, they all try to find their way in the new reality of EU“.
. Anna Konik
Anna Konik - Oficial Site
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/ My european story
Every person I met dreams of better life, of respect and freedom, they all try to find their way in the new reality of EU.
When I left Dobrodzien - my birthplace - in 1995, and then Warsaw in 2000 I was convinced that I will be back in a short while. I left the world of the Iron Curtain behind me to experience what everyone in Poland dreamt about - living a normal life and being normal. However since the year 2000 I'm in a state of constant travel between: Berlin, Warsaw, Dobrodzien. Vienna, Bielefeld, Cork, Salzburg, Stuttgart, Stockholm... Dobrodzien remained in the same spot in southern Poland, between Opole and Czestochowa. Its name comes from the German expression "Gutten Tag", which means "Dzień dobry". As if in a lens, all problems of global Europe are focused here in macro-scale: unemployment, loneliness, otherness, class differences, incomprehension, rejection, language, culture and historic differences... but also dreams of a better life, which we all share, constantly, regardless of where we are now.
And I'm still looking for my place, I'm still on a travel...