From Within. Art Scene of mBank New Horizons Festival

Anna Mlasowsky’s artistic glass explores geographical, cultural and sexual identity. Apart from glass objects, the exhibition From Within – presented within the framework of the Art Scene of the mBank New Horizons Festival – features performances documented on video.

Mlasowsky is an immigrant and a woman belonging to the queer community from a country which does not exist anymore (East Germany), living in a society which is not hers (USA). She grew up during the transition from communist repression to capitalism, in a community shaped by anarchy, punk and techno. She left her country as soon as she finished school and has been living abroad ever since. Travelling from place to place she experiences life as a foreigner. The artist creates objects and then, on her own or with other performers, interacts with them. The performances featuring glass objects are video recorded.  

From Within is both an intimate and universal cross-section of her performative works from the years 2017-2023. Their protagonist is glass. Characterized by high plasticity and changeability, the material embodies Mlasowsky’s sense of impermanence and in-betweenness, as well as the experience of being alien and queer. The ambiguous identity of glass reflects the experience of (non)belonging, otherness and disobedience. The artist contrasts social expectations of the female body with actual feminine identities.

The exhibition corresponds with Paul B. Preciado’s film Orlando, My Political Biography presented in the festival’s Third Eye section. Referring to Virginia Woolf’s visionary book Orlando, the Spanish writer, theoretician and curator tells the story of personal experience of transition and life as a trans person. Mlasowsky and Preciado create art which indicates new ways of resistance and emancipation. Both artistic attitudes reject the restrictive hierarchies and value systems as those which onlyserve to categorize behaviours and bodies. In this way, the exhibition and the film give a voice to the excluded and marginalized. 

The Third Eye is a New Horizons section devoted to the work and representation of women in cinema. This year, the programme of the section goes beyond the man/woman opposition, presenting the output of artists who are not categorized in simple terms – they are trans and non-binary persons rejecting the heteronormative patterns. The SIC! BWA Wrocław exhibition refers to the theme of this section.

The opening of the exhibition will feature the performance Your Wor(l)ds in my Mouth. A group of performers will interact with the audience by holding a glass ball, which is a kind of screen, in their mouths. Visuals and words are projected on micro screens inside the mouths of the performers. The work explores personal identity, anxiety and the way in which our self-worth is affected by what others think of us. The project is a reflection on the power of others’ voices and words in our heads, and how they get out through our mouths as well. Often as a channeling of social media harassment, driven by the ability to hide behind anonymity and the option to block and erase others.

The process will be recorded. By participating in the event, you agree to allow BWA Wroclaw and the artist Anna Mlasowsky to use your image to record the perofmance.

Trigger warning:
there is content in the performance that refers to bullying and harassment

Programme of the Art Scene of the mBank New Horizons Festival events at BWA Wrocław:

The exhibition From Within at SIC! BWA Wrocław closes on 3 September. The mBank New Horizons International Film Festival is held from 20 to 30 July in Wrocław, and a week longer online.