EXCHANGING BIOGRAPHIES
- WYMIANA AUTOBIOGRAFII

Laznia Center for Contemporary Art, Gdansk, Poland, 2000

In collaboration with curator and artist Agnieszka Wołodźko and with participation of eleven schoolgirls from Lower Town Gdansk

Exchanging Biographies is my very first participatory created video-communication project (the term I coined back then for this type of work) where the self-narration of the participants/protagonists was implemented as an empowerment tool. At the same time, the production of video documentary was about to bring community together to tackle some urgent issues in the neighborhood.
 

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One after the other, we see young girls telling or reading excerpts from their biographies in different locations of a run-down neighborhood. Some of them let us come in their apartments showing us their rooms, toys, family members, and pets. Sometimes they operate camera themselves, with voice-over comments. They talk about their lives. When they talk about their future and wishes, they become critical about the neighborhood they live in. That way, the community problems have been outlined, and the video pictures a wider social reality.

The video “Gdansk Dolne Miasto” (Lower Town Gdansk, 56 min.) was recorded during work on my “Exchanging Biographies” project, which took place in the Lower Town district in Gdansk, Poland. The district was known for its many social problems, such as high rates of violence and crime, drug and alcohol abuse, unemployment, and illegal immigration from the former Soviet Union.

Through offering a possibility of creative expression to the kids, together with the organizers, we hoped to initiate a social platform that would address problems children were facing there. Eleven girls took part in a weeklong session. Our theme was autobiography: past, present, future. We wrote, read and talked about our experiences and wishes. We then shot a video for three days, and on the first day we were assaulted and robbed on the street. However, the parents, self-organized as our security guards, kept us safe to finish the filming. The video was shot at locations chosen by the girls, according to their own decisions and wishes. Some of them even recorded with the camera, taking on the role of director. The video “Lower Town Gdansk” was presented at several public screenings in the Laznia Center for Contemporary Art, located in the same district. The screenings attracted quite a large number of viewers, schoolchildren, their parents and friends.

“Me, Jadzia” is my favorite story from that longer video work, and I have been showing it as an independent work. Jadzia, 12-year-old Jadwiga Janowska, reads her biography in front of the camera in different locations. First, she tells us the story about her birth and serious health problems, then about her kindergarten years that were not easy either, then about her father who first did not want to admit fathering her. After that, with her camera, she shows where she lives guiding us through her building and apartment. We meet her family. Through her simple comments and descriptions, we get involved into everyday life of a bright young person who, despite all the problems that might surround her, won a medal for dancing several years in a row.

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Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej ŁAŹNIA

CREDITS 
PROJECT: Curatorial team Laznia: Agnieszka Wołodźko, curator, Aneta Szyłak, director. Supported by: the City of Gdansk, Apexchange Amsterdam. Videlstills: Kristina Leko and project participants. VIDEOWORKS: Gdansk Dolne Miasto / Lower Town Gdansk 2000, single channel video, 56' mini DV, Hi 8 / beta SP / DV in Polish edition unlimited camera: Kristina Leko, project participants video editing: Igor Kožić directed by Kristina Leko produced by Kristina Leko and Laznia Center for Contemporary Art, Gdansk, Poland supported by the City of Gdansk, Apexchange Amsterdam Ja, Jadzia / Me, Jadzia 2000, single channel video, 8' mini DV, Hi 8 / beta SP / DV Polish with English or German subtitles edition unlimited camera: Jadwiga Jadzia Janowska, Kristina Leko video editing: Igor Kožić directed by Kristina Leko produced by Kristina Leko and Laznia Center for Contemporary Art, Gdansk, Poland supported by the City of Gdansk, Apexchange Amsterdam

GENRE&FORMATS 
Project: video-communication project; participatory-documentary project; community project; project with specific social groups; oral history project; social plastic. Artwork/s and artifacts: workshops; video work (social documentary).

 

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