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Schedule:
17.10.2020, 5:00 PM
[Galeria Pionova, Olejarna Street 2]
Lecture session:
Dr. Roman Nieczyporowski: The Artist Between Art and Responsibility.
Prof. Maciej Śmietański, MD, PhD, habilitated:
The Scientist Facing Oppression and Death: The Example of Doctors in the Warsaw Ghetto.
Discussion Panel:
Dr. Jörn Brockhuis, Prof. Grzegorz Klaman, Prof. Ewa Łojkowska, M.A. Piotr Tadeusz Mosur
Timeline:
29.10.2020 — Thesis defense (closed event)
30.10.2020, 18:00 [Galeria Pionova, ul. Olejarna 2] — Opening of the exhibition PARASITES
08.11.2020 — Exhibition closes
Project premise
The author of the project aims to draw attention to the danger of spreading populist slogans leading to a rise in nationalist, even xenophobic, sentiments in Poland. Simply stating such a slogan would be a truism obvious to educated people familiar with the realities of state functioning and pro-government media propaganda.
However, the action is about something more. In its very form, it is a performative turn — a socio-artistic action carried out through the tools of art and science. The author, as an artist but also a scientist, a habilitated doctor of medicine with a significant scientific record, conducts a study designed using scientific tools (a prospective blinded study) and processes its results as a scientific publication. As such, it can be published in scientific journals and presented at congresses and conferences. This demonstrates that one can — and perhaps should — speak out on such matters. Science usually avoids involvement in politics; the scientific community often remains silent. It is difficult to define all the reasons for this silence, but opportunism, concern for one’s academic position and career seem to be as important as the belief in the futility of such actions. This gives significance to the lecture opening the exhibition. The author in a way accuses his own environment of abandoning the role of a guide in understanding the function of the intelligentsia as a legacy of creators from the era of the partitions. The intelligentsia leaves the rest of society in loneliness, not using the tools, education, and authority it possesses. By closing in on itself and promoting itself, it leaves the field open to populism. In this context, the exhibition title (Parasites) gains a new meaning. Hence the bioart presentation of growing bacteria on agar media. Even the bacteria growing in the form of letters have been abandoned and must speak for themselves. Scientists do not provide them with arguments against exclusion. It is paradoxical that bacteria must remind us of the values of the European Union, but also universal human values. It is no coincidence that this topic is raised by an artist from Poland. The Polish contribution to European thought was 19th-century activity promoting the cause of national freedom and active engagement in it. This slogan, opposing absolute monarchies, proclaimed a community of people united by the idea of citizenship (“For our freedom and yours”). Today, this must be reminded so that this Polish idea does not deteriorate into extreme Polish national egoism, ethnic hatred ideology, and Polish Catholicism into a religion of violence, hostility, and contempt toward other faiths.
Funding the action through a social fundraiser — if successful — is also intended to show that there are still Poles who want this.
Research and performative part:
Research part:
A randomized blind trial study concerning oral cavity swabs.
Study group: 50 randomly selected immigrants residing in Poland
Control group: 50 randomly selected volunteers with Polish citizenship residing permanently in Poland
Assumption and goal of the work:
The aim is to scientifically verify Jarosław Kaczyński’s thesis presented in October 2015 regarding the possible return to Europe of diseases considered epidemiologically dangerous, transmitted by immigrants from Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East — both war and economic migrants, as well as children and youth of school age. This thesis underlies calls for limiting humanitarian aid and refugee support in Poland and general hostility toward “foreigners.” So far, this thesis has not been verified to a degree allowing the publication of data of appropriate significance.
Method:
Swabs will be cultured on agar medium to quantitatively and qualitatively determine the bacterial flora in both groups. Isolated strains of bacteria responsible for rare, tropical, and historical epidemic diseases will be identified. Results will be statistically compared and presented in a scientific format both as a written publication and a lecture presentation (PowerPoint).
Performative part:
The multiplied bacterial cultures from the swabs will be combined into a shared medium to create a multicultural culture. This culture will be inoculated onto a glass plate with agar medium in the form of letters. In rows of letters displayed vertically on glass, the growing bacteria will form the text of the Ode to Joy — the anthem of the European Union. The presentation of the work will be preceded by a lecture corresponding to a scientific conference presentation (10 minutes + 5 minutes for discussion).
