22-26 April 2024
I have been working my way through a bunch of ideas, images and conversations with East European builders that are slowly amounting to what might be an hour long show. During the research and development time in the Annex - a meanwhile space run by CPT, and Old Diorama Arts Centre studios I invited my creative friends and collaborators - artist Mikey Weinkove, performer/ director Patrizia Paolini, dramaturg Pamela Faruggia and cabaret director Maxi Himpe - to join me for chats, playing around and sharing feedback on the material I have gathered so far - writing and research.
The Stakhanovite movement - a mass cultural movement of workers which originated in the Soviet Union and spread in the Easter Bloc countries, like Poland, promoting competition between workers and state enterprises. Initially popular, the movement eventually encountered resistance as the increased productivity led to increased demands on workers. In Poland the movement was linked with the efforts to rebuild the country flattened in the Second World War, starting with the capital city - Warsaw. Trzysta procent normy (300% of Target) by Andrzej Janikowski provided me with some background from about the lives of Stakhanovites (przodownicy pracy) in Poland, who on one hand were instrumentalised (and rewarded) by the Communist Party to inspire others to work harder, and on the other hand they experienced hatred and harassment including death threats from the fellow workers who felt under increasing pressure from the managers. It got me thinking about the contemporary stereotype of hard working Polish builders - where did it come from? Is it a compliment? What is the reward for hard work today /for service to an ideology?
The purpose of labour in extreme conditions, contemplation of individual freedom and individual attitudes towards/ against the Soviet ideology based on One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich set in a Soviet labour camp. The novella was written by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), twice-decorated for his service at the front during the Second World War, he was arrested in 1945 for making derogatory remarks about Stalin, and sent to a series of brutal Soviet labour camps in the Arctic Circle, where he remained for eight years. Listening to a podcast about the author I learnt that he had close ties with Putin and in fact supported his vision for Russia, which makes Solzhenitsyn a problematic figure.
Pursuit of (capitalist) normality in extreme conditions was another theme I found myself contemplating. In 2022 I read a story by GQ: As Russia invades Ukraine, murderous Chechen leader and Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov is using designer pieces to demonstrate his power. What are the extreme conditions these days? How much of a clash between normal (whatever that it) and extreme are we able to take before taking action? But also, what is this masculinity and power cos-play about? Soldiers, builders, priests - visual echos between different uniforms, oscillation between life and death, creation and destruction...
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