Anna Kalwajtys is lying on the floor; she’s almost naked, wearing only sunglasses and tights pulled up as high her chest. She’s pouring red wine over her head. Wine spills in puddles on the floor. The performer, still resting on her side, starts to crawl. She’s facing the wall. One of her arms extends upwards, the hand is clutching onto a piece of raw meat. The artist and the viewers are in one space together. The viewers move out of the performer’s way as she crawls across the room. It’s as if they were locked in a cage with a predator. We watch how the artist’s muscles tense up and release in the effort of making another move. She is using mostly her right arm and leg to crawl around the space of the room, still facing its walls. The association that comes is that of exploring and marking a new space. Suddenly, the performer turns onto her other side and now she’s facing the viewers. Her chest is bare. She pulls up and adjusts her tights every so often. The viewers are silently watching, cautious not to be in the way. Kalwajtys pauses for a moment, takes a deeper breath, and continues further. On her way she encounters a wire lying on the floor; someone helps out by removing it. The performer is getting visibly tired, she is changing positions more frequently. When she completes a circle, she crawls towards the middle of the room. One of the viewers is in her way. The artist stops and slowly gets up on her feet. The piece of meat is still in her hand. She’s holding it in from of herself. We can hear a hissing sound she’s making, as if trying to scare away what she’s holding in her hand. She’s staring at the piece of meat, shaking all over her body. Suddenly she runs out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Wine, which the artist was pouring over her head, symbolises a communion between her and the piece of meat. The trail of wine she was leaving behind looked like a trail of blood. The body and the meat were giving off the same sound when hitting the floor. Body as a piece of meat. Human as an animal in her crawling, hissing, snake-like eyes hidden behind the sunglasses. All these elements and associations make us see a human being and an animal that the artist embodies. The division between culture and nature is unclear. When the performer gets up onto her feet – changes position from horizontal to vertical – she becomes a human being. The viewer whom she encountered on her way becomes a mirror that reflects her humanity. Upon seeing that she rejects that what is alien to being human, the raw piece of meat, and she runs away. What she runs away from is her own nature and its animal side, as well as the other.
Natalia Uziębło
http://www.obieg.pl/recenzje/4226