Between Nostalgia and Melancholy: Video Performance “From My Window” by Józef Robakowski – an Attempt at Reconstruction and Analysis
Abstract
The author reconstructs the conceptual aspect of Józef Robakowski’s performance, which is the genesis of the film From My Window. Through treating a film camera set against a window as a prop in the performance, Robakowski analyzed the relationship between individual subject and the external world. In the movie made in 1999, material filmed over 21 years was used by Robakowski in order to illustrate a fictional, nostalgic account full of persons and events from the socialist period of Poland and the early 3rd Polish Republic. At the same time, by hinting at the manipulation, Robakowski forces the viewer to be critical towards the proposed versions of history. According to Świdziński, the video-performance dealing with the relations of the subject with the outside world is marked by the division between nostalgia and melancholia. This reflects the condition of the human subject as a being always situated “in between”. [originally published in Polish in Kwartalnik Filmowy 2010, no. 70, pp. 194-207]
Keywords:
Józef Robakowski, performance, melancholy, nostalgyReferences
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Authors
Jacek Świdzińskikwartalni.filmowy@ispan.pl
independent researcher Poland
Specialist in cultural studies; his research focuses on theory of image and narratology. His papers were published in Konteksty, Kwartalnik Filmowy and Zeszyty Komiksowe. Member of the comic strip group Maszin.
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Copyright (c) 2013 Jacek Świdziński
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