Viewers can scan the QR code from a signboard with the images of Franciszka Arnsztajnowa and Józef Czechowicz if they want to listen to a hypothetical conversation of two Lublin poets, Franciszka Arnsztajnowa and Józef Czechowicz, which might have happened on a gloomy November day in 1938 in Franciszka’s flat in Wspólna Street in Warsaw.
This dialogue of the 73-year old poetess Franciszka with the young, 35-year old Józef, joined by their love for word and the city of Lublin, the premonition of the approaching extermination of the Jewish nation, and the tragedy of World War II. A subdued melody of the song “Już nie zapomnisz mnie” / “Now you won’t forget me” is coming from the radio set Marconi, model 4-LS, standing on the chest of drawers.
Performers:
FRANCISZKA – Izabella Gustowska – intermedia artist
JÓZEF – Paweł Binkowski – actor of Teatr Nowy in Poznań
Patryk Lichota – sound designer
The performance uses fragments of the poetess Franciszka Arnsztajnowa’s works: „Poezyje” of 1911, „Duszki” of 1926/27, „Ostatni film” of 1935, and a transformed fragment of her correspondence with Kazimierz Andrzej Jaworski from 1934; Józef Czechowicz’s poem “Księżyc w Rynku” of 1934, and a fragment of the song „Już nie zapomnisz mnie” / “Now you won’t forget me” (lyrics Ludwik Starski, music Henryk Wars, 1938) from the film „Zapomniana melodia” / “A Forgotten Melody”, performed by Aleksander Żabczyński.
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Izabella Gustowska (born 1948), artist, teacher, living and working in Poznań. Her artistic practice includes painting, graphics, photography and installation with the use of various media. She received her diploma at PWSSP in Poznań; at present, she lectures at the University of Arts in Poznań, Department of Visual Communication – Studio of Film and Performative Activities, and at Collegium da Vinci, Graphic Arts Programme. She participates in recognised international and Polish exhibitions, and her works can be found in the collections of museums and galleries, as well as in private collections in Poland and abroad. Up to 1992 she run Galeria ON in Poznań, and cooperated with it for subsequent two years. In 1999, she received the Poznań Art Awards.
www.gustowska.com