MARIA KLASSENBERG (Poland 2024, 62 minutes)
a documentary film by Magda Hueckel & Tomasz Śliwiński,
featuring works by Katarzyna Kalwat and Aneta Grzeszykowska
The film created by the Academy Award nominees: Magda Hueckel and Tomasz Śliwiński is a biographical mockumentary about Maria Klassenberg, a forgotten pioneer of performance art. All of her life the artist has created and presented her works in her apartment in Warsaw. The action of the film takes place at the opening of an exhibition, where the artist’s radical works from the ‘70s and the ‘80s, that up to that point had been seen by the family and friends only, are presented to the wider audience for the first time. The moment Maria Klassenberg’s works finally are discovered by the art world is at the same time the culmination of her personal conflict with her daughter - Aneta Klassenberg, the curator of the exhibition. For Aneta, Maria’s exhibition is a compensation for the lost childhood and the only way to rebuild a close relationship with her mother. The unsettled past shared by the mother and daughter becomes the artist’s final work. Maria Klassenberg has never existed, which doesn’t mean she’s not real. She represents all female artists who haven’t had a chance to make their mark on the art market controlled by men. Her biography and artistic portfolio has been created by a group of Polish theatre and visual art artists: the concept and the very character of Maria Klassenberg has been created by Katarzyna Kalwat (theatre director), with the help form Anda Rottenberg (a curator and one of the protagonists of the film) and Joanna Zielińska, and the archive of the artist’s works from the ‘70s and the ‘80s has been developed by Aneta Grzeszykowska and Jan Smaga. The film features fragments of famous performances from the 20th century, that resonate with Klassenberg’s works. On the one hand this documentary is an artistic recording of the performance-exhibition directed by Katarzyna Kalwat but on the other hand it’s a provocation attempt: how will the modern world of art, which declares gender equity, react to a fictitious female artist who combines in her works feministic motifs found in the 20th century art?
CREDITS
Directed by Magda Hueckel & Tomasz Śliwiński
Cinematography: Tomasz Śliwiński, Magda Hueckel, Robert Gajzler, Bartosz Zawadka
Editing: Tomasz Śliwiński
Music: Wojtek Blecharz
Sound design: Mateusz Adamczyk
Sound on the set: Mateusz Adamczyk, Kuba Kozłowski
Color correction: Lunapark
Graphic design: Magda Hueckel
Producers: Małgorzata Cichulska, Magda Igielska, Agata Kołacz, Roman Pawłowski
Produced by TR Warszawa
FEATURING
MARIA KLASSENBERG | AN EXHIBITION by Katarzyna Kalwat
direction and concept of the art performance: Katarzyna Kalwat
text and dramaturgy: Beniamin Bukowski
cast: Natalia Kalita, Urszula Kiebzak
special appearance by: Anda Rottenberg
consecutive interpreting into English language: Artur Zapałowski
set design, costumes and lighting: Anna Tomczyńska
music: Wojtek Blecharz
cooperation: Anna Grzelewska, Joanna Zielińska
venue: Raster Gallery in Warsaw date: 14.11.2020
MIRROR – RECONSTRUCTION OF AN UNDOCUMENTED PERFORMANCE BY MARIA KLASSENBERG
direction and concept: Katarzyna Kalwat
text and dramaturgy: Beniamin Bukowski
set design, costumes and lighting: Anna Tomczyńska
performers: Justyna Wasilewska, Tomasz Tyndyk
venue: Raster Gallery in Warsaw date: 14.11.2020
MARIA KLASSENBERG’S ARCHIVE, 1970-1980 by Aneta Grzeszykowska
(MIRRORING / DRAWING CLASSES / NO / CONSUME / TRANSFER / CHEW / JAM SESSION / NO BODY)
concept, script, development: Aneta Grzeszykowska
performers (archive): Anna Rutkowska, Wojciech Żera
cooperation: Jan Smaga
WORLD PREMIERE:
Segal Theatre Film and Performance Festival, NYC, 16.05.2024