2012, Poland
Parasite wants to transform into a host – he can help anyone who wants the help. The easiest way is to help in things you have skills for, so Parasite produced posters and flyers explaining: his education, his work experience, his skills useful in everyday life and that he really wants to help anyone who needs it.
Art is a good for society. More and more often this truism is countered by saying that art is not only confusing, but simply it isn’t directly giving any of measurable good. Trying to deal with this inherent characteristic of art which has gained enormous significance in the era of hyper capitalism, Parasite decided to explicitly help potential recipients of art, anyone who wants it.
The art is in the center of the cultural world, its most precious good. At the same time it is a product, from which a recipient supposedly derives considerable benefits. Between an artist and a recipient of art appears a transaction and it’s mostly one-way. Artist sends a message that from his perspective is a certain good but he doesn’t take under consideration the needs of recipients and thus often detached from them. In the past some people claimed that the artist’s place in society is between a priest and a scientist. So that art brings certain ethical and cognitive content, which influence the progress of society. In return the artist gets salary. Contemporary art rejects those hackneyed truths, proposing hermetic and unintelligible dialects instead. Artists immersed in an elite and segregated language exist in closed circuits. They usually don’t meet the needs of recipients understood as any common man. Real and embedded in a specific time, place and situation, benefits from contact with art.
At the same time artists oscillate around replete niches are not getting paid – the outside, earning world is too far away. A large cultural and intellectual asset doesn’t find confirmation of utility in the world. Trying to find an alternative to the so-seen art and the situation of the artist, Parasite decided to help every potential recipient in a clear and legible way: he offered himself as a tool for providing real benefits to the user of art.
The relation with the encountered recipient has been reversed. Parasite wanted to make the most of his skills as an artist, educator and designer, with his experience from work, education and life. He assumed that only the whole entirety of the artist handed over to the recipient could break the deadlock in relations between the art world and the reality. The recipient will receive a clear response and the benefits will become very tangible.
The main area, which has been tested are public expectations toward artists. The essence of it was to raise some questions: What happens when the art recipient can decide about creative processes and weave them into his daily practice? Moreover, the action oriented on hidden, ineffective activity and deeply integrated with the non-art world, may create an interesting tension between a seeking resonance gallery and the prose of a help provided by me. The attitude of people who will receive my help may be surprising. It’s possible that the public will also require from me some glamour and atistic grandeur, while my objective will be to meet their specific needs.
Willing to help
FadoFest, Aleksandrow Kujawski, Poland, 05-06.2012
During stay in Aleksandrów Kujawski the action “Willing to help”:
– gave socks to Mr. who needed them;
– wanted to help a local rapper, but eventually he didn’t send his demo;
– helped to uproot a horseradish;
– watered a garden;
– cleaned the street in front of a local school;
– threw out school garbage;
– helped in a local carpenter’s shop;
– designed a business card for a carpenter’s shop;
– made a dinner for two-members family;
– organized an exhibition of Julia Olejniczak in Fado club in Aleksandrów Kujawski (Julia was a 16-year old girl, almost a typical outsider, she painted and drew works with a psychedelic touch, she didn’t show them to anyone because she wasn’t confident and didn’t want to trust anyone, at school she kept the distance from everyone: other students and teachers, at the outset she contacted with Parasite to talk about the meaning of art);
Willing to help
New Heat, MCK, Nowe Miasto Lubawskie, Poland, 07.2012
“Willing to help” in Nowe Miasto Lubawskie was a response to an unfavorable comment, which appeared below the article on a local newspaper’s website, about the beginning of action.
The comment was:
Such people can be taken advantage of to clean up the area of the monument in Nawra. Combine business with pleasure, with concrete actions, not an actual negligence and mess with imaginary concepts. (by naf)
Parasite initiated a social renovation of the monument in Nawra, sculpture made in 1962 by Ryszard Wachowski, and organizing the area surrounding the memorial place. Together with a group of residents he supplemented defects in the sculpture and took care of the greenery surrounding it.
Willing to help
Sesilus2: Gniew, Nowe, Grudziadz, Bratwina, Chełmno, Poland, 08.2012
Sesilus was a boat – project that sailed for two weeks on a Vistula river from Bydgoszcz to Gdansk stopping at small villages to explore a local culture. I was invited for the second edition of Sesilus with my action „Willing to help”.
During Sesilus2 Parasite helped:
– stop Gniew: help with a local gospel festival, talking about art, picking apples;
– stop Nowe: chopping wood for kindling, painting a picture for Mr. and Mrs. Droszkowscy, mini painting workshops with local kids;
– stop Grudziądz: helping in harvest, painting walls in a primary school in Bratwin with the proposed interpretations of regional patterns, painting the fence of a farm;
– stop Chelmno: help with promotion of a newly established local skateshop, helping the city hall, helping with overflowing coal, painting a wall with a local graffiti artist;
Willing to help
MOCAK Cracow, Poland, 09.2012
At Cracow Parasite helped:
