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Interview with Katarzyna Kozyra

At 7 pm Katarzyna Kozyra, one of the most acclaimed polish artists and a member of the Theatre Optique jury, will present a first of two lectures about her work. The event will take a place at Polish institute in Prague. Read a short interview made by Josef Vomáčka. The second lecture will take place at the same spot tomorrow at 4 pm.

For Czech (educated) audience, you are one of the most interesting personalities of contemporary art. Your participation in Fresh Film Fest jury is not only honour for organizers, but also confirmation that much of your work is connected directly or indirectly with a film profession. Some of your works can be described as passionate and captivating documentaries where you were able to do many daring steps for the success of filming (eg series of films from Hungarian spa or stories going to the edge of horror excitement). Is it possible to say that some of your works of 90´s can be considered as independent film projects?
I do not see a clear difference among media, so you can consider some of my works as documentaries which they probably are in some way. For me the most important thing is the process of making an artistic work. Less interesting for me is whether the work will be more perceived by the public as a document or video installation. It is good to do work that is not clear in perception and in form. This can expanded the field of social discussion for example about art and media. In 90's I focused on a documentation of some human habits, physicality and gender in particularly way. My works are a comment of some realistic situation and I was in these situation for real. But I have never thought about my work as a film production in the literal sense. I was able to do these kind of things like as you said "to do many daring steps" because when I believe in some idea and I feel it I can do a lot to achieve a goal.

Although you are devoting many of your performances and projects to communicating messages on the border of theatre grandiose, maybe even baroque fanciful magic, do you have time and desire to follow international and Polish work in the field of videoart or documentary? Do you have any favourite authors?
To be honest I don't have time to follow contemporary art. Of course I am interested in the situation and generally I know what's going on but I focus on my work. Now I'm making my first full-length feature film and it absorbs me, totally. And if you ask me also about crossing borders of arts or combining the reality and imagination I have to say that it is very interesting for me because in my opinion the reality and imagination are two faces of the same coin which I have been trying to show from the very begining of my artistic work.

The charm of debut and student film works is undeniable. A honest originality, natural innovation, youthful courage contribute to Fresh Film Fest quality, which can´t be achieved by later works of contest participants. You yourself stepped in many of your works over many tabu and borders, you explored passionately basic questions of human existence and human identity. How were your works of this type accepted, particulary by Polish society of which a part belongs to more conservative type?
In my case the beginnig was very controversial. My dyploma work is "Pyramid of Animals". This work consists of the sculpture and video from slaughterhouse during the killing of a horse. The sculpture presents a horse, dog, cat, rooster set one over another. The idea was from the fairytale of the brothers Grimm - it is among others also about combining the reality and imagination - but as you can guess this work caused a huge scandal in which I didn't care. This scandal even turned attention away from the point of this work and I wasn't an artist but I was a murder. Later it wasn't better. My next works has been considered mostly in the category of scandal, no matter what I did: "Blood Ties", "Olympia", "The Bathhouse" etc. But I have to tell you that a few months ago I had a big monographic exhibition held in Zacheta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw and I invited visitors to take a part in casting which I organised for the role of Katarzyna Kozyra in my upcoming film. People came and recorded their presentation about me and my work but mostly about their opinion about me and it was really meaningful to say how I am perceived. And what is important for me these expression were not only about me as a shocker. So, something can change after 20 years.

Recently, you have been working on an autobiographical film which is much anticipated. Will it be rather a documentary movie or will you choose more artistic approach?
My movie is still under construction. To be honest I'm more at the beginning of creating this movie than at the finish. Now I'm working with my co-workers, co-writers and we are writing a script. So, everything is possible. I'm very open to innovatory but also abstract ideas. My goal is to break the traditional structure of the traditional film. I would like to reinvent the approach to movies. For sure I know only one thing it will be a full-length feature film, so something new for me.

Can you name for the festival audience your 5 films most favorite regardless place and time of the origin?
Of course: Battleship Potemkin by Eisenstein, Psycho by Hitchcock, Locator by Polański, Eight and a Half by Fellini and Pulp Fiction by Tarantino.