Sorcha Dallas

Cezary Bodzianowski returns to Glasgow from his native Poland to exhibit works in the city for his solo show. Although a relative stranger to the UK he previously exhibited in 2005 alongside Sue Tompkins and Sophie Macpherson in Sorcha Dallas’ offsite contribution to Glasgow’s Festival of Light. Back again, the new performance artist is sure to put a smile on your face.

His work is characterised by subtle interventions – he unexpectedly disrupts the norms of everyday life, usually involving unsuspecting members of the public with humorous results. These interventions are documented by his wife, Monika Chojnicka, and it is the documentation that he presents, effectively blurring the boundaries of performance, documentation and the artist. For this show he is planning to exhibit both video and photographic records of his exploits in the city, site specific works made for the gallery.

Bodzianowski is one of Poland’s most prominent artists but his name is little known in the UK. Until 1989 Polish art was rarely seen in Western Europe, and today post-communist art still does not fare well in Britain. So it is not suprising that taken out of context his work might at first appear as a collection of strange one liners. But his work has a deep social sensibility, haunted by the ghosts of Socialist Realism. This is an important exhibition, but whether it is recognized at the time remains to be seen.