“Man in translation” is an exhibition-game, a damaged phone. This project is about the art of translation, about the dichotomy of freedom and discipline in this process.
Polish and Russian poems became the basis of the visual component of “Man in translation”: four were written in Polish by a Polish-speaking author, and four were written in Russian by a Russian — speaking author. Russian author made translations of Polish texts into Russian, and Polish, in turn, translated Russian poems into Polish. So there were eight texts. The texts were given to Polish and Russian artists, and they translated from the language of literature into the language of visual art. Some interpretations of the verses are striking in their simplicity and literality, while others are confusing.
Texts of poems (in Russian and Polish) were placed on one of the gallery’s wall, while the works of artists were located in different places of the exhibition space, and the visitor did not know which visualization referred to which text, and was able to try to connect the poem and the visual image among themselves at their discretion.
Authors of poems: Alexandra Sikirina (Russian texts), Anastasia Kamenskaya (Polish texts).
See Olga Mikhalchuk’s works on the project web-site
