Wojciech Zamecznik, a prominent graphic designer, deserved the title of artist not just at work but also at home. The footage included in House on Its Head (Wojciech Zamecznik – Dom na głowie) was filmed between 1949-1966. This unique collection of images offers a glimpse of the designer's private life and also illustrates the atmosphere of the PRL era: its clothing, interiors, and everyday surroundings.
Taking chronology and relevant technological progress into consideration, the film material used in House on Its Head could be divided into the black & white and colour sections. This would, however, be a purely formal distinction, as the film doesn't cease to revolve around Zamecznik's immediate surrounding: his two sons, beloved wife Hala, Figa the dog, and several friends and colleagues.
The images, shot for the artist's and his family's sake and intended for the private archive, form, as one could expect, an extremely personal documentation. Viewers will indulge in it thanks to their voyeuristic drive, ever so natural for man. Still, films made by Zamecznik, an educated and experienced man, sensitive to the rules of composition, are extremely aesthetic. The graphic designer created his home movies as if they were art pieces, appropriately employing close-ups, as well as shifts of perspective and rhythm.
His son, Juliusz Zamecznik, reminisces:
I would always see my dad with a photo or video camera in his hand. I think that our private life wasn't kept separate from my father's professional life. We constantly saw him at work, and were also engaged in it, either as assistants, or as models. It could be said that we were part of our parents' and their friends' work, but we didn't think of it as work, but play. This symbiosis between private and professional life has been exceptionally well conveyed in the film.
Adam Palenta, a cinematographer and film director, was responsible for selecting and editing three hours of film footage. On commission from the Archaeology of Photography Foundation, he revived Zamecznik's memories, turning them into a multidimensional collage. Work commenced on House on Its Head in 2008, with the laborious digitization of his 8mm and 16mm tapes. The process proved difficult due to the incompatibility of the old frame sizes and contemporary archiving equipment. The final, nineteen-minute-long version has managed to encompass Zamecznik's intimate relationship with his wife, the everyday struggles of parenting, country breaks with friends, otherwise unreleased visual works, and some experimental footage.