site-specific, online (since 2017)
storytelling project & audio guides
Elka is a fictional character that has adventures and a huge imagination. Her name is the same as Kamila Wolszczak second name, after her mother and now also mother-in-law. The short form or diminutive is Elka.
This artistic personality is talking freely about reality and fiction, facts and fantasies. What she offers to the listeners is a stream of consciousness full of grotesque, doubts, absurdities and questions. Elka refers to the mixed up feelings about everyday experience we all have but generalny we are ashamed to admit or simply we do not have time and space to talk about it. Elka talks about herself and she talks about us.
Elka appeared for the first time during the live storytelling workshops in Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in 2017. Later, the series of audio stories started in the middle of covid-19 pandemic as an attempt to reach audiences locked in their houses. Listen to episodes here: https://anchor.fm/elkaelka
One of the stories, “The walk with Elka”, was created as a part of Wrocław 70/20 Symposium [https://www.sympozjum7020.pl/en], a special programme to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Wrocław ’70 Visual Arts Symposium, created and realised by the Wrocław artistic community – institutions, organizations and independent initiatives. Elka became a guide through the backyard of the old vodka factory in Wrocław. People, using private headphones, were invited to an immersive experience. Each person was exploring this public space with their ears and eyes in a specific way, additionally navigated by an artist with a series of messages sent by phone.
More:
Storytelling https://open.spotify.com/show/4pOl9KCqYWS3eK6apINf0b
– A talk about the project with Jacek Sterczewki in his podcast Lokacje
– A video documentation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKQWlnvncvE&t=21s
– Radio talk in Radio Wrocław Kultura
– Studio Wrocław #20 in Radio Kapitał
– A talk with artists selected in open call organized as a part of Wrocław 70/20 Symposium
