Zorka Wollny. I love you - Goodbye

Every sound in Zorka Wollny’s works starts in the body. It’s the performance of a body that the artist is most interested in. This is why, whether she talks about tense socio-political situations, makes references to art history or to particular places, movement is always at the centre of her practice. From the outside to within and back. Inhale and exhale. Action and rest.

In her latest work, Wollny goes back to materials she has gathered throughout the last four years doing a variety of artistic projects — sounds that she didn’t use in her official works: private notes, reminder melodies and drafts. The artist listens to her past self and to her collaborators — most often, her compositions are a sum of meetings with different people. Thanks to this very detailed self-revision, the artist created her most intimate work.

The two-part composition (Side A and B) refers to the mechanisms of memory and its bodily dimension, in which the sound is the carrier of memories. It is a theatre for  imagination, deep listening and meditation. It is like reading a secret journal or listening to somebody else’s mixtape — sometimes with a rush of excitement, other times with a tear in your eye.

SIDE A: collaboration Helen Hess

SIDE B: collaboration Karl Eric Enkelmann

Zorka Wollny, b. 1980, is a visual artist and performance director. In her practice, she operates in between theatre and visual arts, with a strong connection to architecture. She collaborates with musicians, actors and dancers, as well as local communities. Her works were presented in prestigious art institutions around the world, such as: Chicago Architecture Biennale (2019), Steirischer Herbst Festival (2019), Hebbel am Ufer Theatre in Berlin (2018), CTM Festival in Berlin (2020, 2018, 2015), Savvy Contemporary in Berlin (2017, 2016), De Appel in Amsterdam (2017).

The Approaches exhibition featuring: Sound focuses on contemporary works by Polish artists whose performative and para-performative activities represent the main area of interest in their arts practice (though they can be delivered in less than obvious ways).

The artists invited to take part have prepared new sound works, which thematically or formally refer to a chosen theatrical play presented year ago on New Europe Insights Festival. 

Zorka Wollny referenced the show  I love you, Goodbye by Gob Squad