RASTER - Zbigniew Libera

	How to train the girls, 1987 (exerpts) video transferred to DVD, 20 min, sound
	The film was created by assembling and playing in slow motion the fragments of a recording of a family meeting. We see a girl, about 4 years old, and hands of an adult woman presenting her with "womanly" objects such as lipstick, nail file, clip-on earrings, or a pearl necklace. The girl most probably encounters these objects for the first time, she seems initially disorientated or even frightened. At the same time, we see how the hands of the adult serve as a guide to behavior - pointing at the mirror, they instruct her how to use the particular objects. The soundtrack, prepared by the artist using an electric heater, metal rod and a number of guitar effects and overdrives, serves as a commentary to the recording.

	Mystical Perseverance, 1984 (excerpts) Installation: original night table, medications, text, video (loop, 50', sound) One of the works created by Libera during a time when he looked after his terminally ill grandmother Regina. The obsessive activity recorded by the artist - turning a chamber pot - takes an almost mystical meaning. It was the only activity which Regina performed on her own and, though it was being done unconsciously, it was associated with her religious gestures. It replaced the turning of the rosary around her neck. The beads were taken away from the patient when the activity became potentially dangerous, running the risk of suffocation.