Nadia Markiewicz nadmarkiewicz@gmail.com
Cowgirls performative installation 2021 at BWA Warszawa Classical music usually makes me more productive. When I hear it, I give more milk. But sometimes, I fantasize. At night, I dream that instead of giving milk, my body surrenders to the sounds and I move to their rhythm without any particular purpose. One, two, three, two, two, three... A dreamy vision of freedom unfolds over two hours in a looped sequence, choreographed by Filip Kijowski, consisting of references to the classical Waltz dance as well as to movements observed in cows. The space, under the arcades of a socrealist building in Warsaw, decorated with reliefs depicting physical laborers at work, is scattered with ceramics that are hybrids of cow feces and whipped cream. The Polish cow-women dance around them, to a hypnotic soundtrack composed by Tymek Bryndal, based on a nostalgic 90s jingle from an ice cream truck, fused with the tune of Shostakovich’s Waltz nr 2. The custom of playing classical music to cows to boost their milk production becomes a base for a feminist fantasy, in which dance becomes a form of resistance to the hegemony of productivity and fertility. An hour in advance of the performance, the sound of the ice cream truck jingle was spread around the central neighborhoods of Warsaw from a car, serving as an introduction to the performative installation. Choreography Filip Kijowski; Costumes Barbara Romanowska, Planeta Kuz; Music Tymek Bryndal; Ceramics Karina Kuberska; Car VIP Service Poland