2011- kantor was here

8/3/2019 2011- Kantor Was Here

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14 0 KANTOR ASHERElTadeusz antorn Great ritain


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EMANCIPATIONANDDAYDREAMS:KANTOR'SHAPPENINGSKLARAEMP-WELCH

..3deuszKantor, lgnede portoge(TheDividing Line), hoto on: anvas, ourtesy Cricoteka, opyright Maria Stangret-Kantor-:rd Dorota Krakowska.

Emanc ipa t ionand Daydreams:Kantor 'sHappenings

Kantor 's xper iments i th he happeningormat n he a te1960s ereacontinuationf his ong-term imof regaininghe relationshipf man o realityBut he happening rovedar romstraightforwardsa strategy f de-alienatioHi s ngagement it hwhathecalledHappeningheatre"Th e heatre f Eventsin hismanifesto f 1967, asmore hanan nvestigationnto he possibil i t iesaudience articipation sa means o achieve n avant-gardeusionof art with lifeIt wasa systematic ttempt o liberate vents nd situationsro m everydayconvention nd o produce nother, utonomous paceor hem.Kantor xplaine"lmportant nd unimportant, u ndane, oring, onventionaleventsndsituatioconstitutehe heartof reality .. .) keep urning hem around, ecreatinghe mindefinitelynti l heybegin o have ifeof heirow n(. Then uch uestions'l sthisalready rt?'or' lshi ssti l l i fe?'becomenconsequentialo me'i l

It wasnot he balance etween rtand ife hat nter ested antor, ut somethielse-the production f a space here ertain vents nd situationsouldhavl i feof theirown,no t asart,or as ife,but as hem selves.

Th ehappeningormatoffered ewpossibil i t iesor expanding isexistinstrategy f annexation,ncorporatingoundpersons, bjects nd social onventioin toa new, ndpotent ia l lyree , i tu a t ion. ehoped hat he happening oulabolish he representationalonventions f both art and ife n order o "depireality ia eality' j irectly.oishappenings erenot what modernists ouldhavcalled u tonomous. either er e he yconcerned ith whatPeter urger alledh"negation f he autonomy f art by heavant-garde'isantor! tated osition aon eof "disinterest' i6

Whenaskedwhether e hadever eally elievedn painting, antor epliedbelieved, ut t wasnot an absoluteaith. wasalways,n my nformel aintingoalso oncerned ith somethingmore han he autonomy f some ormor artismethod. want o apply hismethod o the wholeof reality' l?he askof artwasconfront eality eadon and o transformt ntosomething ifferent. esoughtcreale, sing eality, "new sphere f the imaginary . )'ltThiswas,he wrote,bota form of retreat nd of attack. he magination asas a eply o reality' i hos"inner ictate" eemedo him o begrounded n creating "different"eality,reautonomous,apable f achieving moral ictoryover he other kindof realiof tr iumphing, f restoring piritual ignity o our ime . .tTopropose differerealitymeantwagingwa ragainsthe existingbinary) rder.

The"score"for antor'second appening heDividing ine ketchedhe problequ i tec lear ly . '0antor ry lynotedboth he exped iencynd he nevi tab i l i tya two-tiered ystem, roposing, ith marked arcasm,hat he dividing inewathe onlyavailableorm or orienting neselfn he chaos f reality:Th edividinline/should e madeeverywhere nd always,/quicklynddecisively,/becausnany ase i thoutourwi l l / i twi l l unct ion f tsown accord /automat ica l ly /unforgivingly,/leavings/on hisor that side'ir1 ymakingup our minds o makthe dividing in eourselves,e suggested, e"gain he mpression/ofre echoiceor he consciousnessf necessity"evenf we indourselvesn the wrongsideothe ine).r 'Theividing ine, ewrote, ismadealways ndeverywhere,/itulfi ls possibleoles,/itakes n allpossibleorms/is ternal/i s moral."r3he ine s ustl ineafter l l-an innocentorm,no more. t ust s, nd t cannot el pbeing,ustaspeople annot elpbeing n oneside r he other f t.Th e amoral"ine ivideshedispossessednd he poor ro m hose n power.Kantor's atterof fact iststatthe binaries ith whichhi swork smostconcerned. thick ine uns hrough hemiddleof he page. hedegree o whichdivisions rean escapableac tof i fewadramat ica l lytagedn he Krak6w ventwhenpar t ic ipantsound hemselvwalled n at he endof the happening:the xitwasbricked p.

Kantor ont inuedo exp lorehe same rob lemn subsequentappenintes t ing u t a ser ies f s i tes here he d iv id ing ine , ndb inary t ruc tu resoube nterrupted r empor ari ly uspended. eobserved ith pleasurehat makinhappenings eant hat he had th ewholeof l ived eality t [his] isposition'i


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14 2 KANTOR ASHERETadeusz antorn Great ri tain

Thisenabled im o searchor a space: ne n whichob jects and, o tent ia l l i ,subjects?)ouldacquire measure f independencero m structures f power.

While isitingNe wYork n 1965 t occurredo Kantor hat he PostOfficewasone such pace. ewrotea plan or an exhibition t he PostOffice. he exhibits' lhe wro te , n h isbr ie f ke tchor h is dea,wouldbe noton lypa in t ings ,ut a lsoreadyobjects,whichare o be oundat he PostOffice, ackages, asses f packets,sacks'ir5heyserve ssubstitutes f sorts peoplemeanwhile, tand n for objects,na chaoticwhirl of exchanges).Theos tOffice, e wroteenthusiastically,sa zonein which

objects-letters ...) packets, arcels,ags ndall heircontents/exist or a certain ime/independently,/withoutn owner ...)withouta unction/almostn a void,/betweenhe sender nd hereceiver,/whereot hon eand he other emain owerless...)Thisisone of the raremoments,nlwhich h e objectslips way romits ate.r6Th econdition escribed ere s hat of l imbo. heusual ules resusoended-

those ersonsn contro l f h ings n he normal rder f ind hemselvesower less .Th e poorobject' imeanwhile,s emporari lyree.Kantor's bjects spire o be hemasters f theirown ate,but,asobjects,heyar ewithoutagency r power-theirf reedom ecomes oss ib le n lywi th ina cer ta in or to f space.What f Kantor 'sexper iments i th emancipat ing ackages ere o b e readasa formal es t ingground or empowering isempoweredubjects? ould herealsobea certain or tof space n which people ould slipaway ro m heir ate"?

leftTadeuszKantorduring the happeningTheDividingLinKrak6w Decembe r 1965,photographWojciechPlewinskCricoteka, opyright MariaStangret-Kantornd Dorota KroppositeMaria sta ngret, Painting Thresholds,Winter AssemFoksalGallery,Warsaw, anuary 1969,courtesyMariaStaFoksalGallery n Warsaw.

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Emancipation nd Daydreams: antorl Happenings

Arguably he simplest roposal or a happening t this ime wasMariaStangret'sdea o paint hresholds reen.tTThe inimalexperiment ascarrieout by Stangret spartof the WinterAssemblaget the Foksal alleryn 1968Perhapshresholds ppealedo Kantor ecause ftheir connectiono what hetermed the realityof the lowest ank":he described hem as completely eutraand anonymous'i]8ut t cannotbe by chancehat he determined o drawattentioto a form of limen-a passagewayetweenplaces.n the contextof the one roomFoksalGallery,he thresholdmarked he passagerom one sphere f conventionto the other: rom the outsideworld o the galleryand backagain. hisgap,however arrow, learly ffered setof conceptual ossibilitieshat Kantor houghparticularly orthy of attention.

In hisworkon "liminalentities'; uchas neophytesn initiationor puberty itereligious nthropologist ictorTurner escribedheirconditionas hat of bein"neitherherenor here; hey arebetwixt and between he positions ssigned ndarrayed y aw, ustom, onvention, nd ceremonial ':1et is not yet knownwhatheywil l become,he yar eblank lates n whichmanypossibledentitiesma ybeinscribedollowing hiscrucialmomentof suspension.ur ingwhat he erms he"liminalphase'identity s emporarily oided n preparationor the inscription fa new dentity.Kantor eproducedhisphase patiallyn hishappenings.t held heseductive otential or a new modelof autonomous ubjectivity.'l965, he yearof Kantor'sirsthappening, asalso heyear hat MikhailBakhtpubf shed n Russian isstudyof Rabelais'GargantuandPantagruel. e compareRabelais'mobilisationf the grotesqueo the structure f Medieval nd Renaissancarnival, hichoffered, e wrote, acompletely ifferent, onofficial, xtraecclesiasticalnd extrapolitical spect f the world,of man,and of human elationslitl bui l ta secondworldan da second ifeoutside fficialdom...)" . 'zore-emptinTurner'sheorisation f he iminal, akhtin rote hat he clowns nd oolsof hecarnival-grotesque"stoodn the borderline etween ifeand art, n a peculiarmidzone ...)".21orBakhtin, lownsand ools epresentedacertain orm of life,whichwas ealand dealat the same ime'i" I believe hat t was his same'form f life'ina'mid-zone'thatKantor ought o articulate.

This ormof lifealsoaccountsor the contradictory onditionof hiscorporeal uephemeral etter f 1967.Kantorhadcalled he lettera"hugewhite body"-it waa grotesque ody. t wasa Bakhtinianakeon mailart hat could not havebeen esephemeral. heLettertookplacen the space f life,becomingpartof the lived ealiof the participantsor he duration f the happening,ust ascarnival, ccordingBakhtin,'telebratedemporary iberationro m he prevail ingruth and rom heestablished rder; t marked he suspension f all hierarchicalank,privileges, ormand prohibitions'i23antorshared he ambitionsof carnival sdefinedby Bakhtin

To iberate rom the prevailing oint of view of the world, romconventions nd establishedruths, rom clich6s,rom all hat ishumdrum nduniversallyccepted.Thisarnival pirit ffershechanceto havea newoutlookon theworld. o realisehe relative atu re f allthat existtand o entera completely eworderof things.2aBu tBakhtin nsistedhat he ransgressiveowerof carnivalwasactual .

Carnival asnot"anartistic,heatrical-spectacularorm,but ratheran as f real buttemporary)orm of l i fe tsellwhichwasno t simplyperformed, ut l ivedalmostin actual act (for he durationof carnival)".' :she paradox f MedievalaughterBakhtin bserved, as hat it was absolu tely nofficial ut neverthelessegalisedThe nvitation f a realpolice scort aswellasbeinga egal equirement-thuspointingout that t wasone)wasa way o bringon board epresentat ivesf officiall i fe or he purposes f ts id icule:he nvolvement f thepolice nderminedheauthority h ey represented.

And hen there s he Panoramic eaHoppening f August1967.That oo tookplaceat an nterstice: n a thin strip separatingand rom sea. hebeachat -azywa shome o a strange henomenonha tKantor alled vacation ivil isation".t


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144 KANTOR ASHERETadeusz antorn Great ri tain

certain imesof year,Kantor eenly oted, t acquired completelyndependentreality,withtsown aws,"a articularmorality,awayofehavingfreeofivi l ization'sconventions':27each ulture bandoned orkaday onventions.Theon gstretchof sandwas ikea antasy pace. eeven alledt"an mpossiblepace'i28eflectingon hehappening fter heevent, edescribed-azy, i th tsvast uantitiesf ai ran dse a nd nfi i testripof beach sa"daydream'1"hedayd eam, f cou se,sanotherliminal ite nwhich he maginations ree o roam-between leep ndwakefulness.

But he beach id not iveup o Kantor'sxpectations.aving bandonedhestage ecauset was oo ul lo f convent ions ,ndused he happeningormat oexploremoreemancipatoryitesor action, antor asdismayedo discover,ve nhereon the beach,more onventions!hatwasworse, hesewere as evere s hosein everydayife, erhaps venmoresevere, aradoxicallyupplantinghe naturalsand, ea ndsun'i3o

Kantor's mbitions er euncompromising:"thereation f a distinct, i fferent,reality, hose reedom snot curtailed y he aws f an ysystemn life' irr nlyal imina l pace eemed pen o such n ambi t ious ro ject . hehappening adpromisedo provide uch paces.utKantor ltimately erceivedhe experimentto have eena a i lure . l though enow knew hathe had he whole f ivedreality t hi sdisposition'ie decided o return o the heatre.

Th enextepisoden his heatric alepertoire as heTheatre f the mpossible.LoveliesndDowdiessse t n a cloakroom. nd he cloakrooms he imen f th etheatre, nother n-between pace, ndassuch, otentiallyipe or appropriationand ransformation.t mayhavebeenKantor's os tconceptuallyoaded ite.Thecloakroomwasdedicated o the reality f the lowest ank-a repositoryor vacatedhumanpackag ing,nonymous ndyet po tent ia l ly ear ing l l the races f t sownersmost ntimate istory. ut t wasalso, sKantor aid,an ntensely ti l i tarian'system";thatcondensedhe conventionsf sociali fe ustas he stage ondensedth e conventions f art.r2 edescribed ow Th ecloakroomunctions, prawls,

TadeuszKantot Pdnorcmic 'ea Hoppening, Lazy, Augusphotograph EustachyKossakowski, opyright Anka Ptacourtesy Maria Stangret-Kantor nd Dorota Krakowsk


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Emancipationnd Daydreams:a ntor ' s a pp en i n

The Cloakroom n Lovelies nd Dowdles,RichardDemarco Gallery'sproduct ion fC r ico t2 per formance n Edinburgh, or resth i l l ,Poorhouse, ugust /Septemb er973,photographRichardDemarco, our tesvRichard emarco r ch ive .

takes p everwiderd imens ions f the maginat ion,ecomesndispensaboperates nceasingly,utomatically,. . .)soullessly,onotonously' i33o ransfthissystem-as nexorables ealitytself- into a carnival-l ikeon ewa s he mopress ingask f a l l . he nexorab i l i tyf h issor to f sys tem as he maginat iworstenemy.

Although iminal,he cloakroom as ar rom ree. t wasoccupied y pettyfunctionaries. loakroom ttendants,ik ebureaucrats,ad contrived o makethemselvesndispensable.Theyretendedo protecthe autonomy fthe heatrfrom he nt rusion f l i feoutside. hey onfiscatednd hoardedhe audience'protective utergarments, ccordingo a bureaucraticystem eyond he controof anyone u t hemselves.scaperom he nfernalakeover f the cloakroomattendantseemedmposs ib le . rau tKantor lways la imedhat f a s i tuat iowas imposs ib le /andnconce ivab le / ini fe , / th is ' imposs ib le" /cane ach ievesuccessfully/inrtlon he conditionhat/the lements f his/'process'/areereof anyotheraim/(...)/ than imply/to e perfectly seless/andisinterested'

Renewing isa t tack n the convent ionsf heatre emained isgreateschallenge:herewere erious bstacleso be overcome. owwa sone o oust hecloakroom ttendants?ould rt really ope o l iberateealityro m he dividingl ine?Whatould r t hope o ach ieveromwi th lna vas t ys temhatengul feandappropr ia tedven hedaydream?peakingn he mid-1970s,antor a ithat he aimof hisworkwas o prove ha t t ssomehowpossiblen hi ssituationot o lose ope. t ' sextremelympor tant o t o lose ope. o main ta in neaggressivenessl'36nd ,as he moved rom heTheatre f the mpossible,o theTheatre f Death, e wagedan ncreasinglyavage ar on th e conventions fthecloakroomndon hes tagnat ionf maginat ion.


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146 KANTORWASHERE TadeuszKantor n GreatBritain

NOTES1 Quoted after Borowski,Wieslaw Iadeusr(ontor, Warsaw:\rydawnictwa Artyst)rczne Filmowg 1982,p. 111(author's ranslation rom Polish).2 Fora discussionof Kantor'sdeparture rom the Kaprow model ofthe happening, see,Suchan, aroslaw'Happening as a Readymade',TodeunKantot: Niemo2liwe/ lmpsiile,Jaroslaw Suchaned., Krak6w: BunkierSztuki,2000,pp. 67-120.3 Kantor,Tadeusz,'TeatrWydatzei (A propos'Kurkiwodnej'l",Todeusz\ontot Metamofozy.Teksty latach1938-l974,Pisma,wl. I, Krz)rsztofPleJniarowiczed" Wroctaw:Ossolineum, Kraldw: Cricoteka,2005,pp.384-385.(author's ranslation rom Polish);Kantor,Tadeusz,TheatreHappening1967i Michal Kobialka, rans., nKobiafka,Michal ed.,AJoumeyThtoughOtherSpaces: ssoysandManihstos, 1944-1990,Be'keley: niversityofCaliforniaPress, 993,p.86.4 Kantor,Tadeusz,The mpossibleTheatre,1969-73: Michal Kobialka, rans., n Kobialka,AJoumqfhmghOther Spaces, .N.5 Biirger,Peter, hory ofthe Avant-Gatde,Michael haw, rans.,Minneapolis:Minnerta UniversityPress;Manchesten Man!hester University Press, 984, pp. 47-55 (Th6ie det Avontgorde, Frankfurt suhrkampVerlag,1974).6 Kantor,'TheatreHappening 1967i p.85.7 Borowski,Tadeusz antor,p.42.8 Kantor,Tadeusz,'l944Ulissesi n ZofiaGolubiew ed., ddeuszKontot.Mola6twoirzetbo, Krak6w:MuzeumNarodowe, 991,p.55 (author! translation rom Polish).9 KantotTadeusz,'MANIFESTO.Tadeuszantor 9l5-19901 Obieg, no. I (21),1991,p.3 (authorS ranslationfrom Polish).l0The happening took placeon l8 December 1965 at the headquartersofthe Associationof Fine Artistsin Krak6w.1l Kantor,Tadeusz,'Linia odziaful ddeus:z ontor Metdmofozy,p.S4 (author3translation rom Polish).12 Kantor,',Linia odziafu:p.340.I 3 Kantor,'Linia Podzialulp. 340.14 Kantor,Tadeusz,'ldeapodr6iy.Teatf'i',Tddeuef\ontorzArchiwumGolerii Fokol Jurkiewicz,Malgorzata,Joanna Mytkowska,Andzej Puywara ed.,Warsaw:GaleriaFokal, 1988,p. 334 (author! translationfrom Polish).t 5 Kantor,Tadeusz,'fdeawystawy na poczcie',Tadeuszontor.Metomofo4, p.311 (author's ranslationfrom Polish).t6 Kantor,Tadeusz'Po(:la.19Ci5',TadeuszKantor.etamoio4, p. 312 (author3translation rom Polish).1TThe score or the event has been ncluded n anthologiesofKantor! writings,e.9. Kantor,Tadeusz,'Mafowanieprog6w',Todeuz Kantu. Metamday,pp.445-447 (authorS ranslation rom Polish).However,his signaturedoesnot appearon known typescripts, o t may be the cas!hat the scorq fit was ndeedauthored by Kantor,post-datedStangret3happening.Stangretherselfalsoauthored a number ofbrieftypescriptswith the title Prcgi Thrcsholds),ne ofwhich is dated l969.Theseare n the FoksalGalleryarchive.I 8 Kantor'Malowanie Wogbd1 pp.445-447.t 9 SeeTurner,Victot,TheRitualProcess:tructweand Anti-Structure, hicago:Aldine PublishingCompan,1969, .95.20Twnet The Ritual Prccess, p. 5-6.2l Bakhtin,Mikhail,Robelois nd hisWorld, rans.Helene swolsky,Bloomington and Indianapolis: ndianaUniversityPrest 1984,p.8.22 Bakhtin, Rabeldisand his Wuld, p. 8.23 Bakhtin,Soberais nd hisWoild,p. 10.24 Bakhtin,Robela,iond hisWorld,p.34.25 Bakhtin Mikhail,quoted in Renfrew Alistair,'TheCarnivalWithout Laughter: Adlam,Carol,RachelFalconer,Mtaf i Makhfin& AlistairRenfrew!ds,,FocetoFoce okhtin n Russioond nth!Wert,Sheffield:ShefheldAcademic Press, 997,p. 188.26 Bakhtin,Mikhail,quoted in Renfrew"The CarnivalWithout Laughteri p. 189.27 Kantot Tadeusz,Rozwaaania",Iodeuszl/\ontor ArchiwumGolediFoksol,D.163(authorl translationfrom Polish).28 Kantor,"Rozwa2aniai . 163 author's ranslation rom Polish).29 Kantor,"Rozwalania', . 163 author's ranslation rom Polish).30 Kantor,'Rozwaianiaip. 163 author's ranslation rom Polish).


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EmancipationndDaydreams:antorlHappe

3l K!ntor,'MANIFESfO:.3(author3nnsladon rom Pollsh).32Kantor,Tad!usz,5?'tli,|diT4d! ts2,GnwzArdilflim@Hlfukat,p 325 author'srandadonfiom Pollsh).33 ontor,'Szahlt'p. 325 autfio/s r.nslatlon iom Follsh).:!4 Kr4nztofMlkhmvskl wote a ilm scdpt itH Tad!usz anto/sCloakroom,973-1 74 bas!drcheatsalsorthe pfay.5!eMlklaslev6kl,Krrysztof,rrountc6wtthTadatszlhntor,Georgelyde, red. London:Routf d9e,2@2,pp.14-29.35Kantor, h! lmposslbl!heatr!96&-731W. 9t-94.:l6Tadeusz antor peaklng t FokalGalhry,l{arsaw, une1g7+lnTdeuett.d/nwzAtclilwurnCrttr 294 autfio/s nndation ftompolbh),

2011- kantor was here

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