Rain

[narrow passage near the yard with the sandpit]

In a narrow passage between tenements and yards, white wax puddles appeared. They were Aleksandra Went and Alicja Karska’s minimalist installation. When the public were confronted with the installation – made to walk around, or even step above the frozen forms – the location extracted from the city space enabled direct, almost intimate relation. The objects, which contrasted with grey, concrete ground, on the one hand attracted attention through their organic form, which resembled real puddles or giant drops; on the other, the pristine whiteness of wax caused dissonance, introduced an element of artificiality which created distance from the natural, familiar form. The title, which triggered definite associations, directed the public’s imagination to a figurative image rather then close it in abstract, self-contained form. Simultaneously, the material used opened up new areas for interpretation – in the context of the Four Temples District – including associations with votive candle wax on the church floor, for example. Solid drops or puddles frozen smoothly on the pavement are also connected with the transfer of what is usually subject to the process of preservation in the city – buildings, streets, ‘hard’ historic substance – to ‘soft’, volatile and short-lasting states, which appear and vanish from the city’s landscape.

> Kaja Pawełek