GOD’S BODY / 2023

The performance took place during the 12th Tychy Performance Festival "New Media" in 2023.

I emerged from the gallery where the festival was taking place into the city space—the Tychy market square. It was Corpus Christi, a Catholic holiday during which the Body of Christ is carried in procession.

I approached men dressed in BDSM attire. I had an invisible but significant leash in my pocket—I was searching for my "dog." I whispered questions into their ears, and the whispers were transmitted through a portable speaker.

The most important element of the performance, however, was not the interactions themselves, but my presence in the city space and the change of context triggered by my appearance in the market square.

The Tychy audience is relatively conservative, and the city authorities are reluctant to address controversies in art. After publishing several photos from the performance, the festival organizers, without my knowledge, decided on a form of preventative censorship—after several critical comments from residents, they removed most of the photos from their social media.

Photography: Magdalena Borucka, Leszek Ciepliński

Video: Stefan Kornacki

Editing: Piotr Sroka