curated by Romuald Demidenko
exhibition: 20.07—2.09.2023
The exhibition features the multimedia work All the stories I have ever told you were fiction by Kuba Stępień. The film takes viewers into a dreamlike world of gestures and non-verbal narration produced by performers united in semi-impromptu movement. The six interweaving scenes making up the video performance create a hypnotic collage of fiction, imagination and desire, constructed from images of bodies, collective movement and intimacy, challenging the standards of normative communication and binary orders.
The film can be seen both as a personal vision of collective tenderness and as a universal manifesto of identity and expression that evades conventional approaches. Its narrative is ultimately devoid of a verbal layer; instead of words, it is filled with a choreography that is based on texts about non-heteronormative representation and overlooked subjectivities.
Kuba Stępień, kadr z wideo All the stories I have ever told you were fiction, 2023, zapis performance’u dokamerowego, dzięki uprzejmości artysty
The protagonists featured in the work reveal behaviours and take on roles navigating between the reflection of their own fantasies and the performance of everyday life. The video provokes us to enter into the depicted world, in which the protagonists can enact their own radical micro politics, despite being rooted in a modernity in which bodies are still subjected to scrutiny or punishment, identified as those “passing,” disrespected and removed from view or territory. Reduced to the form of film, the recording of the performance demands at least partial fulfilment and invites the viewer to not only observe but also react, opt for what is possible and at the same time abandon habits of gender identity and behaviour, resist binary divisions by creating platforms of support.
Kuba Stępień, still from the video All the stories I have ever told you were fiction, 2023, recording of a camera performance, courtesy of the artist
The key notions in All the stories I have ever told you were fiction are “auto-fiction” and “auto-ethnography.” Taken from one of McKenzie Wark’s books, these terms hint at the possibility of freely pushing the boundaries between the real and the conventional in relation to one’s own experiences. The screening thus becomes a vision of a utopian, though perhaps only seemingly so, world of bodies that cannot be subjugated to the system. What we are watching, however, need not be a mere simulation, but a prediction of what is about to occur, and in all probability is already taking place – the reproduction of self-projection intended to confuse the tools of surveillance, the departure from the compulsion to keep devices that manage our fears close to our bodies, resisting the lists of restrictions with codes of intimacy, tenderness and contentment (without the need to capitalise on them), and, eventually, the chance of witnessing newly-created collective queer-subjectivities.
Information for visitors
The screening begins every 20 minutes. There is a comfortable platform in the central part of the room to sit and lie down freely. Minors should view the exhibition in the company of an adult guardian.
Kuba Stępień
All the stories I have ever told you were fiction, wideo, 17”10’
performers: Aaa Biczysko, Neo Mosa, Yebin Hwang, Stefa Gosiewsk, Kuba Stępień
camerapersons: Szuga Szu, Emiko Okime
editing and colour correction: Natalia Pośnik
costumes: Martyna Szumowinki (No Przesada)
make-up: Liliana Bogacka
hair: Delfina Tlałka
nail-art: Ugly Nails
set coordinator: Domi Depowsk
sound recording: Joanna Szczęsnowicz
sound collaboration: Julek Płoski
special thanks: Patryk Walaszkowski
Kuba Stępień (b. 1997) draws on their own memories, notes and existing narratives. They create film-and-performative works, exploring the possibility of existence of subjective identity politics and alliances that offer an alternative to heteronormativity. In their practice they use and process media and materials from a variety of sources. They are involved in musical projects, performing and recording under the pseudonym Apkvp. In 2020, the IA label released their conceptual album Lava Grotto. Their works have recently been shown at Scherben Gallery in Berlin, the Museum of Art in Łódź, Zachęta – the National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, as part of the Zielona Góra Biennale and at the Survival Festival in Wrocław, among others. They participated in the Kem School programme in Warsaw and studied at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin. They graduated in media art from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (MA diploma 2023), in photography and multimedia from the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, and from the Academy of Photography in Krakow.