Pracownia Działań Przestrzennych
Studio of Spatial Activities

Pure Polish is a term referring to the Polish type of Arabian horse bred within female and male families considered native in Poland, according to the Polish breeding program, traditional methods; taking into account the racing career as an attempt at bravery in its improvement and the majority of ancestors of Polish origin in the pedigree.

The Polish Arabian horse, called pure Polish, bred in specific conditions, beautiful and brave, perfect and elegant, constitutes a living cultural heritage of Poland and is its national good.

The work consists of 3 video parts concerning the Polish-Arabian relationship presented in the form of a Polish purebred Arabian horse. The first part is a looped registration of an Arabian horse in the desert, the historical place from which it was brought to Poland. The music background is inspired by an Arabian piece from southern Egypt, used as a background for "dancing horses". The second one is a contemporary presentation of a horse in a training hall, using the auction convention. The presenter performs a special choreography with the Arabian horse, posing in front of a camera, which in this case acts as a juror. In the last part I juxtapose negatively characterized words, terms used by Polish society towards people from the Middle East, with the details of a thoroughbred Arabian horse. In this way I stigmatize the body, commonly regarded as beautiful. The words appear simultaneously with the sound, we see them in Polish, but are read in Arabic. The words are distorted like our perspective on the other person. By juxtaposing these two aspects, I wanted to contrast the anthropomorphization of the horse with the lack of empathy in relation to people from Arab countries. 

The work featured a grey pure Polish stallion - Gatito by Ekstern and Galaktyka/Grafik. In his pedigree line there are horses from borderland studs such as Slawuta and Jarczowce and famous mares brought from Saudi Arabia in the first half of the 19th century. - Sahara, Mlecha, Gazella.

Thanks for cooperation to Aneta Szyc (Blue Arabians) and Bogdan Maślanka (Stajnia Primastella).

Part I: The Desert - https://youtu.be/5yXG0aKOnd4 

Part II: The Hall - https://youtu.be/7clNy0WI9EI 

Part III: The Words - https://youtu.be/st2er0bKx5I