Chansons de Geste (multi—channel video, 2012) The literary original of Chansons de Geste (Songs of heroic deeds/Songs of gestures) consists of a collection of the Old French narrative poems apotheosizing the heroic chivalric deeds. Chansons de Geste by Karolina Freino include a documentation material portraying / depicting politicians of the past century, while delivering a speech important for the history of the 20th century. The gesticulation of the political leaders has been transcribed — by means of the Thereminvox — into the musical passages. Thus, the evident choreography of gestures composes thus an audiovisual Chansons de Geste, becoming a song on the history, and delivering an epic portrait of power.
The work was carried out within the framework of the scholarship granted by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland in 2012.
The list of chosen speeches:
1. VLADIMIR LENIN, 19.07.1920, Tauride Palace, Saint Petersburg.
2. MAHATMA GANDHI, 10.12.1931, Victoria Hall, Geneva.
3. ADOLF HITLER, 10.02.1933, Sportpalast, Berlin.
4. BENITO MUSSOLINI, 7.09.1934, Palazzo del Goveno, Taranto.
5. JOSEF STALIN, 17.11.1935, Kremlin, Moscow.
6. NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN, 30.09.1938, Heston Aerodrome, Heston.
7. WINSTON CHURCHILL, 5.03.1946, Westminster College, Fulton.
8. MAO ZEDONG, 1.10.1949, Tiananmen Square, Beijing.
9. NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV, 12.10.1960, UN Headquarters, New York.
10. CHARLES DE GAULLE, 15.05.1962, The Elysee Palace, Paris.
11. JOHN KENNEDY, 26.06.1963, Rudolph Wilde Platz, Berlin.
12. MARTIN LUTHER KING, 28.08.1963, Lincoln Memorial, Washington.
13. WŁADYSŁAW GOMUŁKA, 19.03.1968, Congress Hall, Warsaw.
14. FIDEL CASTRO, 22.12.1975, Havana.
15. JOHN PAUL II, 2.06.1979, Zwycięstwa (Piłsudskiego) Square, Warsaw.
16. LECH WAŁĘSA, 31.08.1980, Gdańsk Shipyard, Gdańsk.
17. WOJCIECH JARUZELSKI, 13.12.1981, TVP Studio, Warsaw.
18. NELSON MANDELA, 11.02.1990, Town—hall, Cape Town.
Collaboration:
Radomir Piorun (movement), Cezary Duchnowski (sound), Inga Leśniewska (historical consultation)
Karolina Freino (b. 1978 in Poznań) — a Polish visual artist, author of the site—specific installations and actions in public space. Since 2007, an assistant in the Department of Sculpture, Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław. She studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław (1998—2003), Edinburgh College of Art, and at the Bauhaus University in Weimar (2004—2006). She received several scholarships, among others, of the Töpfer Stiftung (2005—6) and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (2012). Since 2006, together with the Dušicą Dražić (RS), Sam Hopkins (UK/KE) and Teresa Luzio (PT), she co—creates an artistic group usually4. Her works have been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions.
She lives and works in Wrocław.
