Knights of the Vicious Circle

The plan came to an end. It was said to be a historical or costume film. Judging by the props and sets, you can see that there was a lot going on here. Apparently, everything took place without the participation of the director. The actors waited for him for so long that they finally started acting without a script. At the beginning the action and dialogues were very lame. Additional confusion was created by the appearance of random characters from another set. In order to cover their ignorance and embarrassment, the actors spontaneously acted out scenes they had made up on the spot. Pushing each other, they leaned against freshly painted decorations, inadvertently destroying the makeshift set. Slowly, however, they got into the role, caught the rhythm, played with each other. They sensed each other's reactions, learned to anticipate them and prompt each other. In the end, they managed to play the characters of ideal knights, solidary, steadfast and infinitely strong. They realised the dream of being heroic and invulnerable. At the exhibition "Knights of the Vicious Circle" Maryna Sakowska and Maciej Nowacki created a strange place frozen in time. An open-air museum of sexuality, ruled by fate and violence, with the spaces of dungeons, chambers and courtyards as a backdrop, and chains, spikes and swords as recurring props. Under the surface of conventionality and irony, one can sense the dormant violence lurking in ordinary objects and seemingly natural poses. The narrative of the exhibition, reminiscent of the backstage of a low-budget fantasy film, is filled with a miniaturised feeling of danger and oppression. The individual works look like forms waiting to be activated, to make the first decisive move, starting an action that cannot be interrupted. The world presented by Sakowska and Nowacki seems to be on the verge of a process of profound deconstruction, which will wipe to dust the established patterns inscribed in the activities of the body, subjected to constant control, blocking and taming.