Katarzyna Kozyra, photo by Magda Wunsche, courtesy of The Zachęta National Art Gallery
Maurizio Cattelan's Family Business Gallery in New York hosts the third installement of her research, following two fruitful sessions which took place in Warsaw and Tel Aviv.The project inverts the roles of the viewer and artist, as the audience becomes a creator and the artist an observer. Casting Call continues to explore the notion of identity, a significant point of reference in Kozyra’s previous work. The figure of the artist constitutes raw material for the emerging group performance, played out in front of a camera.
The project’s motto is derived from Kozyra’s autobiographical pseudo-documentary entitled In Art Dreams Come True: "From my omnipotence comes my belief that I can accomplish anything, because potentially I am talented at everything."
The New York edition of Casting Call is the third part in a series, completing the trinity of the Spirit, the Brain, and the Body. The gathered material will be put together to form a full-length feature film about the artist. The first Casting in the series took place during Kozyra's retrospective exhibition at the Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw. Visitors rendered their own ideas of "Kozyra" in front of a camera, based on their impressions of the artist and her oeuvre presented as part of the exhibition.
The second installment of Casting Call was staged at The Centre for Contemporary Art in Tel Aviv in the autumn of 2011. In Israel, the participants were invited to draw upon autobiographical information on Kozyra published especially for the event. The dramatic difference in the presentations from the Polish and Israeli audiences has inspired yet another take on the project in the contrasting setting of American culture. The New York phase of the project provides the chance of a critical view on how Kozyra is perceived outside the framework of notoriety that surrounds the artist in her native country.
In New York, the artist searches for the Body - a physical human manifestation of the performance art Kozyra is known for. Anyone can audition regardless of gender, race, age, sexual orientation, origin, or previous acting experience. Participants are invited to give a personal interpretation of Kozyra's person and works, carrying forward her chameleon-like qualities and performative personifications. A special selection of material for New York participants has been published by the artist on her website for those willing to take part in the casting. These resources recall key episodes from her life, and provide descriptions of pieces as well as video footage.
The Casting project is accompanied by a broad selection of Kozyra's video works at the Family Business Gallery, a small initiative launched by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan and curator Massimiliano Gioni. Cattelan is a sculptor best known for his work La Nona Ora (The Ninth Hour), depicting the Pope John Paul II struck down by a meteorite. The work was exhibited at the Zachęta National Gallery in 2000, subsequently destroyed by members of the Polish Parliament who felt the work offended their religious feelings. Cattelan has maintained an interest in the works of contemporary Polish artists and exhibiting them at his Chelsea gallery.
The artist conducts the casting call together with her film crew from New York's Bunker Media production studio at the gallery from the 29th of May - 1st of June 2012.
For more details of the casting rules and online registration, see:casting.katarzynakozyra.pl
Family Business Gallery
520 West 21st Street
New York, NY 10011
Editor: SRS
Source: www.polishculture-nyc.org, www.casting.katarzynakozyra.pl, culture.pl