Artist Talk: Katarzyna Bak
WAITING FOR... ARTIST'S RESIDENCE
PAINTING INSTALLATION PHOTOGRAPHY
The Project “Waiting for...” was created and developed in the context of the artistic space of the Kulturbahnhof in Leisnig,
Germany in September 2023
The project “Space - Time - Movement” aimed to describe the metamorphosis of an old railway station, reinventing it as a vibrant meeting point where music became the protagonist.
The central element of the project was the space of the waiting room, intrinsically linked to the railway experience: waiting for a train to arrive, depart or be late. Waiting for an imminent journey, for an unexpected meeting, for a departure to new destinations, for a human connection. In this suspended place, time dilates, marked by arrival and departure, but also by the possibility of the non-event, an echo of the famous Godot who never arrives. So, a space that is also dilated time and potential movement, a stage for silent stories and the melodies that make them vibrate.
The history of Saxony is dotted with important musical traces.
In neighbouring Leipzig, great musical talents such as Richard Wagner, Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Beethoven not to mention Johann Sebastian Bach, the giant of classical music, have worked.
My project combines music with an exploration of the concept of expectation, taking as its focus the four movements of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, a universal symbol of unity and brotherhood among men.
The symphony, with its structure in four movements, is translated into a sequence of four performative “canvases” that develop in situ:
First movement: allegro ma non troppo, poco maestoso
Second movement: molto vivace - presto
Third movement: adagio molto e cantabile - andante moderato
Fourth movement: presto - allegro assai
FINAL PHASE OF THE PROJECT
The project ended with an exhibition in which both the research process and the
completed works were illustrated.
The exhibition included
- preparatory sketches illustrating the location and concepts behind the project.
- account of a journey from a train ticket;
- photography, elements of the place, voices from the station.
- four paintings, each measuring 70x100 cm, visually interpreting the four movements of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
- an installation starring the “Chair”: this common object, typical of station furniture, embodies waiting. In the installation, the chair is conceived as a patient listener, ready to welcome, almost to interrogate the visitor in the centre of the exhibition space.
https://www.katarzynabak.com
