Flag No. 5

Flag No. 5 is an embroidery workshop in the form of a directed performance. Participants include: Monika from Gorlice, Mira from beyond the Bug River, Daniel from Opole, Betti and Tomasz. They all succumbed to the pressure to make it interesting, because they wanted to turn their lives into something interesting. They asked themselves: “Who are we, as we put on a show and play ourselves?” The project was a reward for Monika from Gorlice and the reward for the others was to work with Monika from Gorlice. (Three out of four) participants received payment as subcontractors for their participation in the performance, without copyright to the resulting work (Flag No. 5). The other would-be embroiderers did not receive any remuneration. They would take part voluntarily or as a result of manipulation on the part of hired subcontractors. All embroiderers, instead of payment for their work, would earn the satisfaction of being able to participate in the project.

At their disposal, the participants had a lack of any embroidery skills. Drożyńska herself, under the pressure of oppressive language, left the group for a moment, in the hope that her next work would create itself in her absence.

Due to the event’s formal scope, the creators took into account the tastes of the artistic community and other professional groups. The characters featured in the story were real, and any resemblance to non-existent people was not coincidental.

Each evening of embroidery featured a separate narrative and is a separate performance. Attending one, did not guarantee the same experience at the second, third, or fourth workshop.

Participants: Daniel Chryc, Monika Drożyńska, Ana Forma, Mira Marcinów, Karolina Niemiec-Gustkiewicz, Hanka Podraza, Tomasz Węgorzewski.

Flag No. 5 was created as part of the “Placówka” programme of the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute in Warsaw.