It’s My Duty

performance
2019 | 2020

The performance took place on the 97^th anniversary of the death of the first President of the Republic of Poland, Gabriel Narutowicz, who was shot in Zachęta National Gallery of Art on December 16^th, 1922, by nationalist activist, Eligiusz Niewiadomski. The action is not only intended to commemorate President Narutowicz and to recall the tragedy from nearly 100 years ago, but also to draw attention to the need to comply with the law, fulfil civic duties and become aware of the consequences of hate speech.
It has become the tradition that every year on December 16^th people involved in political and social affairs organise a picket at Zachęta on the anniversary of Narutowicz’s death. The action began at 5:30 p.m. I used the available scenery for my performance and supplemented it with my banner that read “The official language of the Republic of Poland is Polish”. During the performance, I set up a portable sound system in the form of a backpack and used it to read articles from the constitution, which, in my opinion, were violated by the authorities and the society. After I finished reading each of the pages, I handed them to the audience.

film: Tomasz Grabowski
sound: Wojciech Ulman

Performance organised in cooperation with Zachęta – National Gallery of Art.

video frames