27/1/2001
Katarzyna Kozyra
Moma, Oxford
Kozyra is one of the most interesting names in new Polish art. One of the most significant elements to Kozyra's work is to call into question the way the human being is presented both in the media and in art, and the constructing of hierarchical divisions between 'beautiful' and 'ugly', 'young' and 'old'.
Kozyra is one of the most interesting names in new Polish art, was born in Warsaw in 1963. After studying at the German Philology Institute of the Warsaw Institute, she went on to study at the Sculpture Department of the Warsaw Academy of Fine Art between 1988- 1993. After completing her post graduate studies at Hochschule fur Gaphik und Buchkunst in Leipzig, she now works in video and photography, combining elements of painting, theatre and performance art. Her work attempts to investigate what it means to be human, from new, often challenging perspectives.
Since the beginning of the 1990s, Kozyra has appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions in various parts of Europe. In 1999 she represented Poland at the Venice Biennale, where her video installation 'Men's Bathhouse' received an Honorable Mention.
One of the most significant elements to Kozyra's work is to call into question the way the human being is presented both in the media and in art, and the constructing of hierarchical divisions between 'beautiful' and 'ugly', 'young' and 'old'. This can be seen in her challenging, secretly shot videoworks 'Bathhouse' and 'Men's Bathhouse', where she enters these little known locations, where men and women act as they naturally are. The hidden video captures images taken in single sex bathhouses, and reveals the different relations which appear in groupings composed solely of one sex: the kinds of intimacy, tenderness and empathy shared. The later digitised aesthetics of these bodies are particularly effective in re-defining notions of beauty and ugliness.
In order to film 'Men's Bathhouse', Kozyra disguised herself as a man and entered the baths, pushing to the limits both her own vulnerability and sexual ambiguity in a male only environment. Walking into the octagonal room to view the projections, the viewer or voyeur is placed in the centre of the action, possibly provoking discomfort and in some way replicating the feeling of being a stranger amongst naked men.
In the 'The Rite of Spring 1', Kozyra again challenges conventional notions of what is ugly or beautiful, and examines how the artist manipulates both model and image. The poses are taken from Nijinksky's choreography for Stravinskys historical ballet, but instead of the beauty and grace of ballerinas, the viewer is confronted by bodies which are conventionally 'ugly' - old, too thin, too fat. Manipulation takes place on many levels, from the artist helping or even forcing the models into different poses, to further distortion by digital alteration.
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