My idea for this project was to explore the state of being stationary within a city that is in constant flux. From 06.09.06 until 11.09.06 for 6 hours a day I sat on a bench in Kuznicza Street in Wroclaw. I wanted to see whether, for that small section of the city, there were patterns/routines that I could identify, and try to learn them, as one would learn a song.

However I soon realized that by merely being in the space for extended periods of time I began to attract people’s curiosity. Although I had set out to watch and learn the space I began to feel that it was in fact me that was being observed. As the days passed I felt this mutual curiosity mount. But was it actually mutual?

To explore this further, when I had finished the action, I asked Zosia Jarosz and Marius Jodko to interview people in that particular space about ‘the guy on the bench’. The video presents this material; a spectrum of memories, encompassing the wildly inaccurate, the highly perceptive and those that simply do not look.

Thanks to: Karolina Freino, Usually4, Zosia Jarosz, Marius Jodko. Supported by: Gallery Entropia

A Beard in the Mormon Style (2006)full project