The Cage

[flat nr 10 in the tenement of the Jewish Community]

shooting: Miguel Nieto
curator: Magda Ujma

Teresa Czepiec-Chwedeczko presented a work which refers to emotional reception of enclosed space. Using simultaneous projections on opposite walls, she totally changed the space. A cramped room, thanks to films, was opened and changed into a neverending corridor. The walls of the room were suddenly annihilated, but they opened to impersonate space belonging to nobody. The screening was accompanied by the sound of a mechanism, whirring which stopped and then reappeared. It was the sound of a working lift. The corridors were shown from a relatively low perspective of a person sitting in a wheelchair. The dadoes and divisions between the walls smoothly overlapped the real architectural divisions in the room. The walls in the film were trimmed, series of identical doors and rows of windows with ferns appeared rhythmically. The viewer could feel being drawn into this featureless space, which can be found in dehumanised institutions, such as hospitals, retirement communities, offices. The images evoked the atmosphere of helplessness. We feel like Josef K. There is no retreat, the architecture assumes full control.

> Magda Ujma