Questionnaire, 2011

video, black & white + sound, 4ʼ, looped, PAL, 4:3

In Questionnaire, the subjects of the film are asked questions such as: "What is our frame of mind as citizens? What are your ideals? What are your dreams? What are your plans for the future?” This footage is appropriated from two documentaries by Polish film director Kazimierz Karabasz: Na progu / On the Threshold (1965) and Próba materii / Material Test (1981).

Questionnaire is re-edited so that the viewer is not allowed to hear the subjects’ answers; rather the viewer watches peopleʼs faces, expressing doubt, confusion or hesitation, thus escaping surveillance. Still the video works as a real questionnaire, making the viewer think about the questions posed by the documentaryʼs narrator. Chopinʼs Waltz Op. 64 No. 2 underscores the unanswered questions, referencing notions of Polish diasporic identity through cultural iconography.

 – video stills