Dariusz Fodczuk engages his 88-year-old mother in performative actions as a consequence of changes in the dynamics of family relationships following his father’s death. The performance has become a space for observing and redefining their mutual bonds, based on an intense form of presence—of simply being. Dialogue with a Son was created for the anniversary of Galeria Labirynt as a reference to Zbigniew Warpechowski’s 1976 performance, in which the artist conducted a dialogue with his son Samuel. Fodczuk reverses this structure, giving it a new context. In Warpechowski’s performance, the father asked his eleven-year-old son fundamental questions about art. In Fodczuk’s version, the roles are reversed—the mother converses with her adult son, an artist, while deliberately avoiding answers to the very same question posed by Warpechowski: “What is art? Is art something beautiful, something wise, or is it something entirely different?” Her unpretentious stance and consistent avoidance of direct answers intensify the tension within the situation constructed by Fodczuk. To emphasize the complexity of the issue, the artist structures the performance into three segments: Answers, Questions, and Answers and Questions, where the reversed logical order further amplifies the intellectual tension. Fodczuk’s action is not a reconstruction of the historical performance but a reinterpretation that opens up space for a new dialogue—both between generations and between the history of art and personal biography. Share on DIALOGUE WITH A SON
Performance Platform Festival, Labirynt Gallery, Lublin, 2024
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