Ked Olszewski and Arek Piętak (Poland)

Raise II (2008/09)

Programme: Willa Lentza, Branch 13 muz, Wojska Polskiego 84 Saturday (21.03) Start 18:00

Ked Olszewski – a visual artist, a graduate of the Faculty of Multimedia Communication at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań. A diploma from the studio of professor Grzegorz Przyborek and professor Ryszard K. Przybylski. Master degree studies at the Faculty of Cinematography at PWSFTViT in Łódź. A diploma from the studio of professor Grzegorz Przyborek and doctor Krzysztof Cichosz.
A laureate of an artistic scholarship from the City Szczecin (2004, 2005), ASP in Poznań (2004) and Film School in Łódź (2005, 2006). A lecturer in the Art Schools Top-Art. A curator of the City  Art Gallery 13 Muz in Szczecin. Publications: Photo (France), Imago (Slovakia), Photo Positive, Photo Bulletin, Camer@ Obscura, Fotopolis, The World of Image, Cultural Melting Pot, Philosophical Quarterly [fo:pa].
Arek Piętak – a photographer , an installation creator , an author of independent films. A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań, Master's Diploma from the studio of professor Stefan Wojnecki and an assistant to professor Krzysztof J. Baranowski at the Faculty of Multimedia Communication, The Faculty of Photography .
He lives and works in Szczecin. He teaches photography at the Higher School of  Applied Arts in Szczecin, the  Technological University of Szczecin and Art Schools Top-Art. A participant of numerous exhibitions and festivals in Poland and abroad, a laureate of contests and scholarships.

Raise II
Monuments' lives after life or two people with a star.
Within this year's inSPIRACJE Ked Olszewski and  Arek Piętak sum up their interferences with the urban space of Szczecin, thanks to which monuments gained  new, unexpected meanings. Questioning the durability of the ideas immortalised by monuments, they present its flexibility – or rather , especially in the context of the history of Szczecin – their temporariness and contextualism.  And... the carelessness of an artist – the intruder .
1.
In the evening of March 15th, 2008, citizens of Szczecin and participants of the Festival inSPIRACJE witnessed an unusual event: a star , removed from the Monument of Gratitude to Soviet Army in 1992, reappeared. Subtly ascended by a few dozen  white balloons filled with helium, it crowned the lonely stump of the obelisk for a moment. It was one of the elements of the action  Raise by Ked Olszewski and Arek Piętak who had earlier strolled across the city with
a styrofoam star made in 1:1 scale in comparison to its concrete original.  After three hours, however , the star was dismantled by two troops of fire fighters accompanied by police officers, as it was considered... a threat to safety. The  perpetrator of the fuss, together with the balloons and accompanied by a police car was taken to   house arrest in Klub 13 Muz, where it remains to this day. The whole event was recorded, and an eight-minute-long film was created.
2.
March 17th, 2008 on the mast in Solidarności square, which had belonged before to a school ship  Kapitan Konstanty Maciejewicz (to tell the historic truth  Kapitan Maciejewicz was the last unit equipped with the mast, originally it belonged to a passenger and cargo steamer the  Wisconsin, which later on served under the Polish flag as Fryderyk Chopin, and then – as a base-ship Kaszuby II), there hung a white pirate flag.  The document from this interference is
a video in the shape of a loop entitled The Flag.
3.
November 15th, 2008, within Westival Architecture Art, Bartolomeo Colleoni, the one who had caused Warsaw vs. Szczecin monument argument,  attracted some emotions again. He was armed with a green light sword of the jedi knight. It is another urban interference of Ked Olszewski and  Arek Piêtak, this time documented in the photographic form (lightbox).
4.
Also  Adam Mickiewicz from a monument in Szczecin gains  luminous support: onto the book the poet is holding, there was stuck a   Macintosh apple. Olszewski's and Piêtak's action is again interventionist futurology (so that  Adam may proclaim), as well as archaeology (the monument of Mickiewicz is located in the place where there earlier had been a monument of Frederick III).
***
The surrealistic (although not deprived of aesthetic features) gestures of the duo Olszewski/Piętak become a part of an artistic and historical dialogue within urban public space. Even though they may be considered profaning interventions or playful gags, however they puncture,  sensitise the places marked with history , charmingly excavating the memory frozen in them. It is a light version of monumentherapy , monument recycling, giving these places  lives
after lives. Habent sua fata monumenti...
Magdalena Wicherkiewicz