WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DISASTER
Katarzyna Malejka, Tomasz Wlaźlak
Walking around the area designated for this year’s Narracje Festival what made a great impression on us were the remnants of buildings that once served as a slaughterhouse. Especially the ones with visibly charred beams, the remnants of a fire draw attention due to their unusual character. Such objects, like demons of the past, being left to rot are poignant reminders of bygone days. They manifest their dramatic nature, regardless of whether we are able to understand their history.
The literal recall of past events, according to our observations, is associated with difficult to avoid theatricality of facts, even– or perhaps especially- those that are dramatic. Changing them mentally for the present. To highlight the relationship between “in the past” and “now” and “burn the building once more” we decided to seek out the archaic effects imitating flames once known for staging the plays.
The installation will be carried out in the immediate vicinity of residential buildings, which face the burnt roof of the building that housed the slaughterhouse offices. The project is a direct reference to the architectural block destroyed in the fire. Returning to the event in a literal way, we repeat it, changing the past into a show. Thanks to these “fairground tricks” we can reveal the terrible beauty of such occurrence as fire. Imitated flames and appropriate use of lights in combination with an amazing building block, will allow us to achieve an effect of a fire consuming the building. In this case, the fire is burning but the building is not being digested. The situation teetering on the border of kitsch and spectacle is becoming mystic. The project relates to the history of the area, draws attention to buildings left behind and forgotten but also to events that send them into oblivion.