Tymczasem Pa / Spacerologia

2014

In 2014 Szaflarski in collaboration with Marcin Kubiak organized a public exhibition in the Stary Grunwald district of Poznan, Poland.
"Ten Berlin-based artists are exhibiting in the district of Stary Grunwald in Poznań for the duration of one month.
Spacerologia refers obviously to movement, not only to the physical demand that this widely-distributed project will have on its audience, but also to a larger concept of historical human movement. “Spacer” or “Spazieren” (to promenade) is a type of human movement that is unpolitical, unmotivated by anything other than the need to move. This unprovoked movement allows the mind to equally reflect without motive. When promenading you can ponder your surroundings in an indirect fashion, allowing for perhaps surprising and un-predictable perceptions, of a place that one might have thought to be familiar and unchanging."

Szaflarski's contributions to the exhibition included the map design (with Santiago da Silva), the Bark Beetle Bench, and the public work Tymczasem Pa. All three of the works reference the physical markings left by tree bark larvae.

Tymczasem Pa (Goodbye For Now)
“Entering the construction site is forbidden,” “The elephant presentation will begin at 1130,” “Feeding is forbidden.” These large signs with naive hand-written phrases are the 3-dimensional replicas of signs found in the drawings of Antonio Kowalski. During the German occupation of Poznań, Kowalski drew animated and cheerful pictures for his son who lived in the country and out of harms way. Within the depicted scenes of everyday Poznań these signs were one of the only indications of politicaltension.

“Tymczasem Pa” (Goodbye for now), was the phrase Kowalski used to sign off every letter, and is also the title of the book by historian Piotr Korduba which recently brought new light to these documents. The phrase also lends itself in a different way to the installation; Goodbye for now, you know longer serve a purpose. Goodbye for now to a fading memory that will remain indefinitely recognizable.
The signs are painted in a green screen like paint. They could be fading into the park, or have been transported from another setting.