‘Existence is a glissando. It is disharmony. Sometimes, a particular tone will stand out in this discordant sea of notes. A tender clarinet. A delicate violin.’
Agneta Pleijel, Wróżba (Krakow, 2016)
Did you know that the number of vehicles in a motor convoy can’t exceed ten for cars, mopeds or motorcycles and fifteen for bicycles? Otherwise, an appropriate regulatory approval for the convoy must be obtained first. How about this one: did you know that there is a unique hydrographic phenomenon in Poland, a river bifurcation the likes of which can only be observed in one other place in the world? Or that the deciding factor in radiesthesia, or dowsing, is the dowser himself – his sensitivity, his ability to concentrate and to interpret the signals he receives? Also, which sound is most often associated with Poland? Hint: it’s neither the nightingale’s song nor the gentle rustle of birch leaves.
Anna Molska’s Pole, płaski teren [Open field, flat terrain] exhibition is not just a collection of video and audio art; what we are dealing with here is an exceptional, ambiguous charade, a visual and at the same time sensual puzzle. One way to interpret this exhibition is to regard it as a film experiment (a reading that is further encouraged by the forty – year – old editing table positioned at the entrance to the exhibition).
However, this interpretation requires a prior awareness of the basic film editing tactics: the juxtaposition of contrasting images that have an analogous thematic meaning (known in filmmaking as associative editing), the assembling of a succession of images to present an escalating journey of experience (montage of attractions), or continuity editing that preserves the illusion of undisrupted time and space across editorial transitions. We should also keep in mind that for filmmakers the objective of creative editing is to exercise a specific, definite effect on the attention and emotions of the audience, to play with the understanding of what we are seeing. According to Molska herself, this exhibition is a distinct narrative about the land which we are part of. She spins a meandering tale, which serves as a reflection of what pains us, what rubs us the wrong way and what seems to lurk under the facade of our national identity.
The images and sounds guide us as we wander among the potentials of different stories. The artist’s intention is not to act moralistic or pass along simple instructions concerning our place of residence as much as to keep us in a state of visual surprise, sensual bedazzlement and at the same time, confusion.
– Lidia Krawczyk
Anna Molska (born in 1983) is a visual artist. She is a graduate the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where she studied audiovisual art under the tutelage of Professor Grzegorz Kowalski. She is a two-time laureate of the Samsung Art Master competition – she received an honorable mention for her work in 2006 and was awarded second prize in 2007. Her graduation project, the diptych Praca – Moc [Work – Power] was exhibited at the prestigious Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art in 2008. In 2009 she won the second prize at the Views competition for young Polish artists organized by the Deutsche Bank Foundation. She has participated in such exhibitions as Stage and Twist. Anna Molska and Ciprian Mureşan (Tate Modern, London, 2012), The Generational: Younger Than Jesus (New Museum, New York, 2009), Report on Probability (Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, 2009), Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art (Berlin, 2008). In 2012 she was among the laureates of the second Film Award of the Polish Film Institute and the Museum of Modern Art for her work on the movie Mutantki / Mutants, which she co-wrote with Kuba Mikurda.