Snieznik Incident

Pictures at the Reality Exhibition: Snieznik Incident.

Text ©by Marek Gajdziński
Pic ©by Zenvampires Collective
Movie ©by Marek Gajdziński 

Date: Unknown.

Locations:

  1. Hamburg,
  2. Snieznik (Králický Sněžník in Czech, Śnieżnik in Polish), the focal mountain of the Snieznik Massif in the Eastern Sudetes, on the border between the Czech Republic and Poland,
  3. Bukowina Tatrzańska, a town off the Tatra Mountains in Poland.

Main actors:

  1. Michael, a human being (born in Tczew, Poland, based in Hamburg, Germany),
  2. Eva, a human being (born in Poznan, Poland),
  3. Marek, a human being (place of birth unknown),
  4. AI,
  5. Shitake mushroom created by AI,
  6. “Pokój do Regulacji Oddechu” (Breathing Control Room) at the mountain chalet (called Schronisko Na Śnieżniku Imienia Zbigniewa Fastnachta),
  7. Other rooms and spaces identified as the interior of Bury Miś, a restaurant in a Bukowina Tatrzańska, a town of the Tatra Mountains in Poland,
  8. Snow (white),
  9. A group of people outside, minding their own business, seen through the window.

Background: The incident took place in Michael’s house in Norderstedt, a town at the outskirts of Hamburg. 

Michael, Eva and Marek were having a good time over the experimental offshoot of shitake mushroom doctored by AI especially for the party. As a result of the trip, all the three participants woke up in the following morning remembering each the same dream. This itself was strongly weird. However, the feeling of something weird going on went outer space high as Eva discovered on her phone the video footage that showed exactly what all the participants of the mushroom party remembered from their shared dream.

Mystery: The film that registers the single dream that features two locations, Králický Sněžník in Czech and Poland and Bukowina Tatrzańska, a town off the Tatra Mountains in Poland. The distance between Snieznik and Hamburg is about 700 kilometres. To get to Bukowina Tatrzańska from Snieznik one must travel another 400 kilometres. The entire distance to cover in this trip both ways would be about 2,200 kilometres. There seems no way in which Eva could travel to Snieznik and to the Tatra Mountains, and then go back to Michael’s house before they all woke up, without anyone noticing it. So, to explain in a rational manner what really happened, especially how the film was recorded, when, where and by whom, seems to be a hard task.

Speculations: No speculations so far. However, you are encouraged to share your intuitions about what could have happened in the comments.

 

You can watch Marek’s movie here (external link leading you to Vimeo). 

No person from the Zenvampires Collective participated in the film or the shooting.

Then We Will See

Then We Will See

©text and pic by Marek Gajdziński

Why, if she finally manages to find ‘her’ slope, a really good one, with perfect skiing conditions and all, why doesn’t she then miss other slopes? In the sense that she goes down again and again and is always eager to do another round. And when we tell her that come on, let’s better go check what’s happening on other pistes and slopes, because they are probably in good conditions too, maybe even better, perhaps a bit blacker, who knows, she keeps skeptical, refuses. How come, we wonder, that you, usually so restless, so curious, always looking for something new, how come you’re not bored by this repetition? Repetition my ass, she says, what repetition? We stare at her speechless, flabbergasted. You can’t go down the same slope twice, she explains, calmly. Just like you can’t enter the same dragon twice, leave the same opera show, love the same person. Now, the question is, she hears herself saying to us from the distance, as she starts her hundredth round in a row, can you watch the same movie twice?

Let’s film her, someone says, pulling out a phone. Then we’ll see.

Can-Can

Can-can (Operetta in Three Acts)

Text ©by Marek Gajdziński
Music by Zenvampires Collective (we mixed a Creative Commons Public Domain File)
Pic not by us but ours. In a certain sense. By DALL·E.

0:00 / 0:00
CanCanCanCan

Act 1

Can you can-can?

I beg your pardon?

Can you do the can-can?

Can I do what?

Can-can. A dance. Have you seen Orphée aux Enfers?

About orphans? Wasn’t it Les Misérables?

No, about Orpheus. A musical by Offenbach. Orpheus in the Underworld was the title.

And what about it?

There was a piece in it, called “Can-can Infernal”. You know, high kicks, skirts, and petticoats waving, pussy flashing. Can you do that?

No, I can’t. Can you?

 

Act 2

Can you can a can?

Yes, you can.

No, I mean you. Can you can a can?

Why shouldn’t I?

But can you can a can as a canner can can a can?

No, I cunt.

You cunt?

No, you cunt.

 

Act 3

It was the galop.

What?

The galop. Not the can-can.

What do you mean? Where?

And it was not a musical. It was an operetta.

Which one?

Orphée aux Enfers.

Was it?

And the piece was called “Galop Infernal” by Offenbach.

Galop?

Yes, the galop. Not the can-can.

Who cares?

 

Jesus in the Wheat Field

Jesus in the Wheat Field

Text ©by Marek Gajdziński
Pics kindly created by DALL·E

Where did you get that from, asked Kasia.

She was pointing her finger at a painting hanging on the hallway wall, close to the restroom.

Wow, said Adam, this is superb.

Frankly speaking, I said, I don’t remember.

It was as if the painting had always been with me. It depicted Jesus with several of his disciples walking through a field overgrown with tall wheat. Fairly realistically rendered figures, exaggerated colours, a typical folk devotional painting. I have always admired its close-to-perfect cheesiness.

This paining has always been there, said Michal.

As far as his perspective is concerned, he’s absolutely right, I thought. When he was born, the painting had already been there,

You’re so lucky, said Kasia to Michal, having it around all the time.

Yes, I like that painting, said Michal, especially for Astra being in it.

What do you mean, asked Adam, Astra is in the painting? Where?

There, said Michal, indicating some spot within the field.

Where, said Kasia, there’s nothing there.  

Astra’s there alright, said Michal, and if you cannot see her, it’s because of the tall grass.

Astra wagged her tail happily as soon as it donned on her that we had been talking about her.

Morning Coffee Incident

Pictures at the Reality Exhibition: Morning Coffee Incident

Date and time of the incident: 26/3/2023, early morning. Not sure about the exact time, there was a daylight saving time change during the night.

Main actors: a wall (white), induction cooker (black, German; if you think about “East Coker”, a village in Somerset or the title of the second part of TS Eliot’s poem “Four Quartets”, I’m not sure if there is any meaningful connection), kettle (silver, from Cheap Kettle Deals), cooking pot (silver, Norwegian), coffee maker (red/silver, Italian), milk pot (silver, Polish), shirt (white, made in Taiwan), human being (light brown, no further data available).

Speculations: The incident might be somehow connected with an episode of the second season of the TV series Fauda about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or, more specifically, what is referred to as the 2014 Israel – Gaza conflict. The plot of the second season is mostly driven by Al-Maqdisi’s seeking revenge for the killing of Sheikh Awadalla, his father and a Palestinian spiritual leader. The episode was watched shortly before the summer time switch in Europe.

©Pics and text by Marek Gajdziński

The Sleepest Story

The Sleepest Story

The key element of this film (was it a film? or perhaps a novel? I am not sure – perhaps simply a moving story) was its protagonist. Much as I tried, however, I could not remember their name. So, I fell asleep again. Woke up after a moment. This time I remembered the name all right. It was strange, but it was there, firmly in my mind. I repeated it over and over again, just for the beauty of the way it would sound. However, I could not remember why I had needed that name in the first place. This made me feel sad. So I got up, looked at the sun that was just rising above the mountains right in front of my hotel room window, and started thinking about a spy thriller plot in which a group of agents go to extremes in their cleverness, skilfulness, and brutality in order to retrieve a medium sized suitcase with nothing but a small electronic device with a secret code on it. Once they got it, however, they could not remember why they had needed it. This made them feel sad, but I did not care anymore. I focused on the view of the snow covered slope I would soon be skiing down. They call it the Wall of the Sleeping Witches and it is said to be the sleepest one around.

©Pics and text by Marek Gajdziński

2nd

2nd

Rather than the Oscars, far more important to me are the Venetian Lions, says Jerzy Skolimowski the day before the award ceremony for the former. And it’s hard for me not to agree with him. Although I may have some problem when it comes to decision making in my life, if I were to be exiled (with the option of hand luggage only) to some remote, heavily depopulated, broad band internet deprived island and therefore had to decide whether to take with me a collection of all the films awarded by the American Academy or a complete Venice award-winning films set, I wouldn’t give the choice a second thought.

 

©by Marek Gajdziński

Pic by DALL·E.

1st

1st

Quite unexpectedly, the need for a new film list has arisen, a list of Mirinda’s favourite feature films. Up until now she’s shown some interest in videos made especially for her kin, such as the ones offered by PetFlix, but at the feature films that I enjoy watching she would look the way a drunken passenger might glance at the emptiness of the High Plains, on a rainy autumn evening, from a window of a rocking stagecoach, moments before falling asleep, in a low budget western. Well, she would notice that something is going on there, on the screen, that is, moving to and fro, but she wouldn’t give a shit, shot, whatever. Piaskowska and Skolimowski’s film EO has changed everything. As if some kind of a spirit possessed Mirinda, when she first saw that donkey, she couldn’t take her eyes off the animal until the very end, about an hour and a half later. Consequently, I’ve put EO on her Favourite Feature Film List and now looking forward to the sequel.

P.S.

  1. EO (2022) is a road drama written by Ewa Piaskowska and Jerzy Skolimowski, directed by Skolimowski. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022, winning the Jury Prize, and has been nominated for the Academy Award (Best International Feature Film). The plot that follows a donkey on its journey from a circus to a slaughterhouse across contemporary Poland and then Europe has allegedly been inspired by Au hasard Balthazar, a 1966 film by Robert Bresson.
  2. Mirinda is a cat. Her twin sister, being pitch-black, was first named Guinness by us. In line with that, another drink and her tortoiseshell coat earned Mirinda her name.
 
©by Marek Gajdziński
Pic by DALL·E.
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