“The Singing Lesson I” by Artur Żmijewski

2001 · PL · colour · 14’

A group of young students from the Institute of Deaf-Mute in Warsaw perform the “Kyrie” from Jan Maklakiewicz’s 1944 Polish Mass inside the Holy Trinity Evangelical-Augsburg Congregation in Warsaw, their voices rising uncertainly yet resolutely into the vaulted space as the solemn, monumental resonance of the organ surrounds them, transforming what might at first seem like dissonance into an arresting, deeply human act of devotion.

Courtesy the artist and Galerie Peter Kilchmann Zurich/Paris

A group of young students from the Institute of Deaf-Mute in Warsaw perform the song ‚Kyrie’ from Jan Maklakiewicz’s ‘Polish Mass’ (composed in 1944). The performance took place in the Holy Trinity EvangelicalAugsburg Congregation in Warsaw. The singing is accompanied by the solemn, monumental sound of the organ. In creating their cacophonic composition, the deaf-mute children exercise expressions normally completely unavailable to them. This is a raw recording, somewhere between documentary film, social action, and musical experimentation. Zmijewski adds: ‘Listening to this, the effect is sonic chaos. The words come out deformed; the singers can’t hear each other; some don’t even know what sound is. And despite all that it is still music, music carrying the words of the Credo crumpled by deaf-mutes:

“I believe in one God, in Thee, God the Father, Who created heaven and earth with thy thought…” The impossible becomes flesh, even though that flesh is imperfect.’ But, as Andrzej Wajs wrote in his review, God sees no difference between a choir of screaming cripples and the harmonious songs of the Concerto Köln.

Text from the catalogue „If it happened only once it’s as if it never happened. Einmal ist keinmal“, published by Zacheta National Gallery of Art Warsaw, Kunsthalle Basel via Hatje Cantz, 2005

The artist

Artur Żmijewski is regarded as one of the most prominent radical figures in contemporary Polish art. His work addresses complex social and political issues, focusing on mechanisms of power, oppression, and conflict, often revealing the human inclination toward cruelty. He explores extreme emotions and their physical manifestations, particularly through the disruption of the body and cognition in cases of illness or disability, as well as through questions of memory and collective trauma. Frequently adopting the form of interviews or documentary-style films, his projects are provocative and sometimes deliberately harsh. For Żmijewski, the body serves as the primary medium for examining power and resistance.

In Repetition (2005), presented in the Polish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, he reconstructed Philip Zimbardo’s 1971 Stanford prison experiment, highlighting how institutional authority legitimizes inhuman behavior and erodes moral values. The work underscored the corrupting force of power and the ease with which individuals submit to oppressive systems.

In Them (2007), shown at documenta 12, Żmijewski convened representatives of four ideologically opposed groups—conservative Catholics, fundamentalist Jewish youth, left-wing activists, and members of the nationalist organization All Poland Youth. Through a structured workshop, participants expressed their beliefs using visual symbols, which became tools of confrontation. As tensions escalated, verbal and symbolic aggression intensified, culminating in the destruction of one another’s emblems. The project functioned as both social experiment and allegory, exposing how fanaticism and symbolic systems fuel division and violence.

Since the early 1990s, Żmijewski’s work has been exhibited internationally in major museums and biennials. He has held numerous solo exhibitions and participated in significant global art events, including documenta and the Venice Biennale. In 2012, he curated the 7th Berlin Biennale, solidifying his position as a central figure in critical contemporary art.