Polklore
Objects, action in public space

The piece consists of three sets of clothes (Counting Rhymes I–III). Each set includes a skirt and a plait. The multi-coloured embroidered skirts are inspired by Polish folklore. Both their style and colour evoke traditional costumes one can see on the countryside on a special occasions. Texts embroidered on them – which are juxtaposed with scenes from the 21st century – are derived from children’s rhyming songs or songs sung during weddings or during Sunday gatherings of the elders. The plaits, which the artist calls cultural plaits, are made of old clothes. They make an impression of something false and artificial, prosthetic. The performance involved three women, dressed in skirts and wearinge plaits – which they found very heavy and cumbersome – attached to their own hair. They walked around a crowded commercial street in Stuttgart. On the pavements, there were crowds of people carrying bags, parcels and shopping, going from one shop or gallery to another, as if in a trance. The women succeeded in attracting their attention for a while. The passers-by were momentarily transported out of their routine activities and took an interest in the unusual happening taking place near them.