#25 ENG
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019 Animation | RE-animation TABLE OF CONTENT: 003_ GALLERY: Grażyna Ambrożek 028_ POETRY SECTION 029_ Piotr Szreniawski 030_ Sylwester Gołąb 031_ Adam H. A. Michniewicz 032_ Magdalena Zawadzka 033_ Dymna Kruk 034_ Kamil Galus 035_ Małgorzata Anna Bobak Końcowa 036_ Mieszko Rybiński 037_ GALLERY: Kasia Miko / Madame Miko 046_ PRESENTATIONS: 047_ Daria Solar 055_ Paulina Buczyńska [LAB35] 062_ Monika Szpener 077_ Adriana Lisowska 087_ GALLERY: Elena Baila Albrizzi 104_ PROSE SECTION 105_ Mateusz Kocowski 109_ Anna Rybkowska 116_ Justyna Michniuk 119_ Mateusz Antczak 131_ Anna Rybkowska 138_ GALLERY: Adam ERTU Topolski 164_ (OUT)roduction Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Cover photo by Grażyna Ambrożek
Animation | RE-animation
GALERIA Grażyna Ambrożek AEGISart In the beginning there are walls. Nude and cold define the space in which human life will take place. For this space to become functional and aesthetic, we introduce a lot of elements. We dress the windows in the curtains, the walls in the wallpaper, the floor covered with wooden panels, we insert equipment and furniture suitable for our daily activities. We care about the consistency of factures, colors, shapes to finally fill our place on earth with the appropriate light. When we are in harmony with the interior of our house, we think of it as a whole. And yet, individual elements, fragments, small details can live their own lives. These photos were created in interiors designed by Kamilla Rudnik from the Gdańsk Interior Design Studio Rudnik Wnętrza. https://www.facebook.com/ga.aegisart/
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Grażyna Ambrożek
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Grażyna Ambrożek
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Grażyna Ambrożek
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Grażyna Ambrożek
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Grażyna Ambrożek
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Grażyna Ambrożek
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Grażyna Ambrożek
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Grażyna Ambrożek
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Grażyna Ambrożek
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Grażyna Ambrożek
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Grażyna Ambrożek
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Grażyna Ambrożek
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Grażyna Ambrożek
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Grażyna Ambrożek
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Grażyna Ambrożek
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Grażyna Ambrożek
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Grażyna Ambrożek
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Grażyna Ambrożek
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Grażyna Ambrożek
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Grażyna Ambrożek
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Grażyna Ambrożek
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Grażyna Ambrożek
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Grażyna Ambrożek
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Grażyna Ambrożek
Animation | RE-animation
POETRY SECTION Edit. by Piotr Kasperowicz
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
POETRY
Piotr Szreniawski
the rejecting animator do you realize? romantically, conceptualistically invite you to not meet send me your works I will reject one after the other it's for the good of readers for good, okay ambition of the ego you will not be in this anthology you will not be in this anthology you will not be in this anthology
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
POETRY
Sylwester Gołąb
Girls from Dior Wisława would certainly have sent Andrzej because they supposedly were friends my friends would not stand a wall I still cannot decide: to write or to develop the musculature of the masses Norse women raise more on the soul than Polish men who do not know if thet should hype something to the ear of girl's from Dior whether to order something on the black market
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
POETRY
Adam H. A. Michniewicz
Tamara maybe I could not make an appointment with you but I bought a book I hope you too will get at it as well as me
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
POETRY
Magdalena Zawadzka I revive dead memories in moving pictures of running life. I make dolls from cloths from a torn old sweater. I put their legs and hands on the string I move! One memory pushes the other frame by frame they go in a row and I'm shooting them. I have trouble managing brains they are old and numb, restless I cannot collect them together they play everyone on their side. Wrapped in the cocoons of ignorance they are running at a crazy pace next clippings, bent shapes blurred pictures which cannot be folded together anymore.
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
POETRY
Dymna Kruk
(not) valiant versus wind rose I'm not renouncing myself I'm holding the crumbling root in my hands I’m calm for another ten thousand years... because if it falls apart — it makes place for growth I'm learning to create in the rain here are created the mystical corridors of me I paint my lips with gray clay I'm talking about love if I was there I will come to you with fire you recognize me in a handful of heat before the northern lights sparkle the gray hair I will stop in the line of a cold star the resin flows in us the same — we descendants and you ask about time for the next ten thousand years above the gap, I put my foot to the north a compass to places where we were together
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
POETRY
Kamil Galus the story of an escarpment
coming from the city of Uhlans, we should fight for you with sabers in Malbork boys play cross-bones the boys in Bydgoszcz are simply fighting with fists so we fought with saber-like poles and triumphed I got the status of your boyfriend-payer with the help of violence and dubious agility at sunsets over the Vistula, I went to look at your naked calves I caught you by the hand and I felt your scent once I confessed to you that Mark told us everything that happened between you and Jack how we resolved this dispute, you don’t have to ask though I have told that you have been faithful to me I wore a black eye as a mark of a hurt lover I went to the edge of the escarpment I looked down you do not even know how many I had like you millions and even dozens you have no idea in how many poems I tried to lead you to people Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
POETRY Małgorzata Anna Bobak Końcowa
desert people put their mouths to prayer as if a pinch of salt lay under the tongue and it could not dissolve prayers die on telephone displays with the fresh aroma of chewing gum there are no confessors spirit specialists people only know one side of the bed the other is too hard there may be a stone there or a fading cell
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
POETRY
Mieszko Rybiński *** Humanism does not like to leave the house he must pay bills walk the dog buy bread, butter and milk. Humanism does not want to leave the house it is not pull to "distant lands" he does not smoke, he does not take or use he does not play cards or get into romances. He browses colorful albums for days he studies the works of the old masters who died in their youth.
However, when the night falls on his Jerusalem, his Athens and Babylon Humanism can not fall asleep. In spite of a soft mattress like the peace of conscience despite the bed as wide as the possibilities and that he made the bed himself because he trusts only himself he can not fall asleep. Drawers are shuffling in the dark cabinet wardrobes and shelves squeak. In the dark from side to side it falls over eyes get wet hands tremble in the throat squeezes. In the morning as it is customary he will not like to leave the house neither will he be curious what's lurking around the corner of thinking.
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY Kasia Miko | Madame Miko
Artistic spirit. From birth with great openness to people. Since graduating the Technical School of Photography in 1999, she has been professionally performing as a wedding photographer. Also family and children's photographer for three years. Her favorite field of photography has always been portrait photography, in particular photography of women. In search of a new way to externalize her creativity, she found the tenth limited edition of the event called Fotogenerator, where the main designer and stylist was Marcin Urzędowski - creator of the PREPOSTEVOLUTION brand. It was the encounter with the young wizard's energy and unconventional styles straight from the movie Mad Max that pushed Kasia Miko to open and explore another photographic path, the subject of which is broadly understood theatricality of the costume and the characters. The presented frames created during photographic workshops reveal a new fascination and promise an interesting direction in development of "Madam Miko". https://www.facebook.com/MadamMikoFoto/
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Madame Miko
Model: Jacek Izdebski, Stylization: Prepostevolution — Marcin Urzędowski, Event: Fotogenerator, MPlace: Osada Sławutowo
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Madame Miko
Model: Jacek Izdebski, Stylization: Prepostevolution — Marcin Urzędowski, Event: Fotogenerator, Place: Osada Sławutowo
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Madame Miko
Model: Patrycja Hołysz, Stylization: Prepostevolution — Marcin Urzędowski, Event: Fotogenerator, Place: Osada Sławutowo Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Madame Miko
Model: Julia Szczepaniak, Make-up: Dagmara Walczyńska, Styliztion: Prepostevolution — Marcin Urzędowski, Event: Fotogenerator, Place: Osada Sławutowo
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Madame Miko
Model: Julia Szczepaniak, Make-up: Dagmara Walczyńska, Stylization: Prepostevolution — Marcin Urzędowski, Event: Fotogenerator, Place: Osada Sławutowo
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Madame Miko
Models: Natalia Jereczek and Jacek Izdebski, Stylization: Prepostevolution — Marcin Urzędowski, Event: Fotogenerator, Place: Osada Sławutowo
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Madame Miko
Model: Edyta Jereczek, Stylization: Prepostevolution — Marcin Urzędowski, Event: Fotogenerator, Place: Osada Sławutowo
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Madame Miko
Model: HellCat, Stylization: Prepostevolution — Marcin Urzędowski, Event: Fotogenerator, Place: Osada Sławutowo Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
PRESENTATIONS Edit. by Ĺ ucja Lange
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
PRESENTATION
Daria Solar
Daria Solar has published her works in L&F many times already. She is a painter with great passion and imagination. Her paintings speak volumes, I would say even that they live their own lives — each of them is a story in itself. So I was not surprised when she told me that she was one of the artists responsible for the paintings in the Van Gogh film... [L&F]: Our conversation was provoked by your collaboration in creating the Van Gogh animation. How did it look? [Daria Solar]: First, a "normal" costume movie was filmed with the actors, who were selected based on the similarity to the characters from Vincent's paintings (e.g. Jerome Flynn and Saoirse Ronan). After that, the painters came in to work. In our small studios called PAWS [painting animator work station] we started painting individual frames, which were projected onto a specially prepared board. We created the oil paintings by copying the colors Photography from the archives of Daria Solar
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
PRESENTATION
Daria Solar
Photography from the archives of Daria Solar
and Vincent’s brush strokes; after that we took pictures and sent them for correction. When they were accepted by the directors, they were used as one of the frames in the film. Then you had to wipe the moving part of this frame, or sometimes the whole frame — and paint the picture from scratch, with the space slightly moved, according to the projector's instructions. After creating a whole series of such frames, the
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
PRESENTATION
Daria Solar animation came alive, because for every one second of the film there were twelve painted frames. [L&F]: It seems like a lot of work. How long did this work take? [Daria Solar]: From the first idea of the director, it took over 10 years; however, the main work lasted two years: the studio in Wrocław operated less than a year. The film was to be created a year earlier, but... it is impossible to paint a film "on time" — this is the charm of animation. It was created by the artists... in their time, not by the corporation "deadline". I worked on the film for half a year, during that time I painted half a minute of the film. [L&F]: How is it to be a part of the process? [Daria Solar]: A little strange, from the point of view of the artist-individualist, because you have to get into the time and organization framework and paint like other painters. We
Photography from the archives of Daria Solar
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
PRESENTATION
Daria Solar
had what was called the "key frame" — the pattern of applying colors or brush strokes , which — within reasonable limits of course — had to be repeated. But I think that we all wanted to see the final project work and we tried to adapt. As a result, you can see the painting style of all artists in the frames they painted. [L&F]: And which frames are yours? [Daria Solar]: Three frames. The first frame is the scene where Vincent goes to pick up a letter from Adeline, with a goat in the foreground. And since it was my first frame, I became Daria the goat lady until the end of the film. Then there was the bar scene, where the angry Vincent throws a table cloth on the table top, one bought instead of a canvas, which he could not afford. This is a very interesting scene, because Vincent has all the emotions on his face: you can see this frustration and so I had to paint it. And the last scene is Marguerite looking from behind the bars of the window, looking wistfully at Vincent’s painting, because she has been told to stay away from him. It's a sad scene, short and Photography from the archives of Daria Solar
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
PRESENTATION
Daria Solar
beautiful. [L&F]: Had you participated in any previous animation production? [Daria Solar]: No, never. I had a small episode creating a set for a Natalia Kukulska music video, but it had nothing to do with animation. For LV directors, the ability to paint portraits and express the emotions of the characters was more important than experiencing the animation. I don’t think many of us had any experience in animation. [L&F]: You are a painter, you create quite intensively — your job is to stop time and freeze frame, show selected moments. Has work on film changed anything for you? [Daria Solar]: Yes, I paint faster. Working at LV forced us to work as quickly as possible, often making only a short interpretation of the topic, and the fact of sitting in front of the canvas for hours made it automatic. I think that my painting benefitted enormously thanks to my participation in the project. In addition, it was crucial to strictly adhere to the chiaroscuro from the film’s frame, and this skill helps to paint, especially realistic works. [L&F]: Each of your paintings, although it represents a moment stuck in time, could become a longer story - did you ever think about animating any of the narratives in your paintings? [Daria Solar]: Yes, I would love to have a computer game company use my electric characters in a game. It’s a dream of mine. However, I wouldn’t like to animate them myself: I’d rather leave it in professional hands. Of course, I have some plans…
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
PRESENTATION
Daria Solar
Photography from the archives of Daria Solar
I intend to contact some companies after finishing work on the rest of the electric characters and suggest some form of cooperation. So, please, keep your fingers crossed. [L&F]: Sure! Coming back to Van Gogh. How many people were employed in this project? You had to get along with each other in terms of the frames or maybe there was an order that you held without going into each other way?
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
PRESENTATION
Daria Solar
[Daria Solar]: There were a total of 125 painters. From various countries. And we had to get along, or rather it was like a pyramid of decisions. The director was setting the tone; the authors of the key-frames, the model frames, were creating patterns of figures and places. The animators had to adapt to these patterns. For example, a man with light brown hair has different color hair in almost complete shadow and it is necessary to decide what color it should have in the shade…and considering van Gogh's palette, it could be dark brown or navy… The decision came from the studio — hair: Prussian blue! The same went for clothes and colors of, say, furniture. Everything had to fit perfectly with different artists. Please note that sometimes we see one desk from two perspectives — and this must be the same desk in the same color — even though it was painted by two different artists. The same thing was with places and landscapes. So... a lot of consulting. Almost every frame, especially at the beginning of our work, was photographed and sent to Gdansk where it was carefully examined by the director herself or one of the managers, then approved. Only then could you continue the painting. Did it cause delays? Sure, huge ones. This was often followed by changes in the decision and then several frames had to be painted from scratch — e.g. with different color hair. But this is the whole charm of the job. [L&F]: Being aware of the difficulties of working on this type of project, I wanted to ask whether anyone at work came to the conclusion that they couldn’t cope no longer? [Daria Solar]: Yes, many people. I will not forget the girl who passed all the tests, successfully completed the three-week training, came to the studio... and… She did
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
PRESENTATION
Daria Solar
not come back the next day. She said the pressure was too great and she was giving up. Of the ten candidates tested in Wroclaw, six stayed. [L&F]: What were your impressions when you saw the final version? How did you feel about it? [Daria Solar]: Stressed — very stressed. Happy, but stressed about what people will say, friends, how my frame’s going to look among the others, will we get an Oscar? It was a project fraught with great, so to speak, expectations - we all tried to “meet” them. And it's not easy and it’s stressful. And of course there was also the other side, joy and satisfaction with the completion of the “work” and the moment when you see your name on the list of authors IN THE CINEMA. The film people may not shed tears, but we do. [L&F]: Congratulations, then! Thank you for your time and for bringing us a little ‘behind the scenes’ look at the work on the set of this extraordinary film.
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
PRESENTATION
Paulina Buczyńska
I met Paulina Buczyńska through her photographs. It was only later that I found out that she was also designing clothes. Looking for the right path for herself, she created her own brand (LAB/35), which she initially promoted, like any designer. Time, however, saw a change in her attitude – and I wanted to talk to her about it: how she animates behavior among consumers or reanimates forgotten behavior. [L&F]: Where did the idea for LAB/35 come from? [Paulina Buczyńska, LAB/35]: Building your own clothing brand for women is the result of a longer process. My path (which is not constant at all, but rather is, by definition, anchored in the process) led through studying art, working in a massproducing company in Asia, experiencing individual projects for children and many other important moments. All this led to the decision to create Laboratorium/35. [L&F]: In recent months, modeling companies have been calling for work for more mature models — 60+ or even 90+. Who do you create for? Have you made up your perfect models or users? [Paulina Buczyńska, LAB/35]: I do not create for shows and models. My clients are usually over 40. They are beautiful, original and real women. I didn’t have to invent them. I can rather say that they invented LAB/35. [L&F]: For some time now, slogans related to fair trade and ecology have also appeared in fashion. What principles do you have in LAB/35?
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
PRESENTATION
Paulina Buczyńska
Photo by Paulina Buczyńska — dress
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
PRESENTATION
Paulina Buczyńska
[Paulina Buczyńska, LAB/35]: The word fashion itself carries a very negative message, momentum, caprice, glaze and exterior. So I prefer to think about my LABs more as the practice of clothing design and production. From the very beginning (2012) the LAB/35 project was based around production in Poland: small quantities of high-quality materials manufactured in Europe. I think I was able to create a good product and I'm proud of it. Quality and attention to detail has become the hallmark of the brand. However, I have more and more doubts about this kind of production model. According to Viktor Papanek, "Although there are areas of activity more harmful than industrial design, there are very few of them”. [L&F]: On the fanpage of LAB/35, you asked for the origin of the reader's clothes? Where do your clothes come from? [Paulina Buczyńska, LAB/35]: From the beginning of the LAB/35 brand, I’ve tested the first designs myself, and I’ve gone on to wear them for a very long time. My beloved tunics from the first collection are seven years old and are unbeatable. I wash them, I hang them (without ironing) and wear them for many years. This is probably not a very popular approach for a fashion designer. There is no element of surprise, seasonality, there is no new sensation. I like my projects, I identify with them. I focus on timelessness and quality. My appearance is consistent with the ideology that I profess.
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
PRESENTATION
Paulina Buczyńska
[L&F]: Exactly. About this ideology... On Facebook, you put the word "buy nothing, you already have everything.” Despite being a very important and sensible approach, it’s probably not good for marketing. How do your clients react to this kind of concept? [Paulina Buczyńska, LAB/35]: My clients are very conscious people. They know why they buy LABs, they know what they pay for. This price includes the idea associated with reduced consumption. [L&F]: Is it possible, in your opinion, to persuade people to reduce the need for things — clothing, items, services? Is the idea of degrowth possible to implement? [Paulina Buczyńska, LAB/35]: I strongly believe in the process of small but consistent steps. I believe in bottom-up activities that change the practices of large companies. This is already happening. Of course, we are far from real implementation of the idea of degrowth on a massive scale. I think, however, that the degrowth movement will become a necessity in the face of the catastrophe that awaits us if we do not change our habits. [L&F]: You can’t imagine how happy I am that you mention this. But aren’t you sawing through a branch you’re sitting on? I am asking because I wonder how real it is to infect other creators (of all kinds) with the degrowth approach? I won’t mention the consumers themselves, who may well be more stuck in their ways… [Paulina Buczyńska, LAB/35]: Well, the change won’t come suddenly; still, we must keep trying with all our strength as creators, and above all as consumers!
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
PRESENTATION
Paulina Buczyńska
Photo by Paulina Buczyńska —bag
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
PRESENTATION
Paulina Buczyńska
I sometimes like to look back to the times when milk in returnable bottles was delivered by a milkman, shopping was done with a reusable mesh, vegetables and fruits were sold loose and packed in paper bags, things were dug, worn for many years... And it took us a little time to forget all these practices. Maybe it can be reversed as quickly? [L&F]: Either laziness or comfort will win... How do you assess the possibility of creating a community of designers whose aim would be to promote slow, eco, fairtrade fashion? [Paulina Buczyńska, LAB/35]: I support community activities, cooperatives and cooperative movements. This is not a simple challenge, but I think that by working together, you can do a lot. I’d like education in our country (including designers) to put more emphasis on cooperation than on competition. At every stage. [L&F]: Great words! How often do you face unethical practices in the fashion market? How big is this phenomenon? [Paulina Buczyńska, LAB/35]: I am at a moment in my life when I feel a kind of antiidentification with the world of fashion. As I noted at the beginning, the very word "fashion" is unethical. When I started working in the profession, two collections were created during the year (spring/summer and fall/winter), now large chain brands are releasing new collections every four weeks. They make sure that the client doesn’t get bored, wants more and
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
PRESENTATION
Paulina Buczyńska
gets it faster. At the same time, things are produced that will not last one season. The slave labor system also imposes a fast pace of production and a continual fight for clients. After the season, unsold things burn on a massive scale or litter the poorest countries in the world. Everything in this puzzle is unethical, immoral, bad… In the face of such a situation, it is not really easy to answer the question whether to produce (even in a sustainable and ethical way) or stop completely… [L&F]: A very depressive vision emerges from our conversation, which does not deviate from the present moods and beliefs that we have maybe 11 to 30 years until the destruction of the world — and the cause of this destruction will be mainly ours. So I will wish us both perseverance in action and... rapid extinction... Thank you for your answers! https://www.facebook.com/Laboratorium35/
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
PRESENTATION
Monika Szpener
From the cycle odNowa, swimming pool, photo by Wnuk
Discussing with the students the idea of re-design, I reached for photos of Monika Szpener's works. On her page you can read: "Monika Szpener takes troublesome, everyday objects (such as plastic bottles, cans, used packages, computer parts and many others) and puts them in a centre around which her artistic work revolves. She recycles them and at the same time gives them new meaning while presenting them in a surprising and
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
PRESENTATION
Monika Szpener
esthetic form. She creates benches, tables and seats bringing objects, considered as trash, back to the society making them useful again. All works are displayed on the premisses of companies and institutions who were supporting the creation of each piece." [source: http://www.szpener.pl/redesign_eng.html] [L&F]: Trick question — is art created from trash, a piece of trash or piece of art? [Monika Szpener]: This is a difficult question and probably depends on the point of view. From my perspective, art has become something that allowed me to creatively work through the dehumanizing consequences of consumerism. My interest in consumerism allowed me to draw inspiration and place my artistic activities in theory. The need to mark one's own artistic attitude in a world where the highest value is consumption, earning and increasing ownership resulted from the sense of oppressiveness of the world viewed this way. Such reality should be critically processed, commented — creative intervention is needed. So definitely art in a creative sense — a piece of art. [L&F]: I asked because I’m thinking about the process of garbage rehabilitation or what we think is waste. When do we stop seeing garbage in garbage, and we see materials that can be re-used? How does this happen in your case? [Monika Szpener]: Garbage is a problem of our time. The culture of a marketable process of forced aestheticization favors temporary fascinations, changing trends and fashions. Everything that loses on interest becomes waste. This attitude means that
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
PRESENTATION
Monika Szpener
objects are not thrown away because they do not perform a function, but because they lose their symbolic value. Objects, styles and aesthetics become overdue because they cease to represent the social values with which we want to identify. As a result, most of the products that are advertised as necessary for life, after a short time become just waste — these are things that are not only unnecessary, but also display our inadequacy and slowness in following the changes happening to the mainstream of civilization. The ideal state for the consumer system would be the situation when, a moment after we left cash registers, we would have a bag with garbage. Therefore, garbage is no longer just a side effect of production, it is its quintessence, because the outdated items are the only justification for the need for continuous and expanding production. [L&F]: How did it start? Which object was the first? What has prompted / inspired you to create it? What was its fate? [Monika Szpener]: These are some ancient times from 15 years ago. The reason was quite prosaic. After studying in Toruń, I came to Szczecin. It was hard to find myself in a new city without friends and contacts, or to organize a sculptural studio and, in general, creative life in a small, rented flat. There were tons of adverts on the staircase, so I naturally reached for them. Daily delivery of fresh material. It began with experiments of various kinds and the search for form. Then the first installation of these newsletters in the now-defunct OFFicyna Gallery and the interesting behavior of the guests at the vernissage, who began to show themselves the shoes they want to buy, or other "current" promotions. These authentic reactions encouraged me to
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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PRESENTATION
Monika Szpener
The altar, photo by Monika Szpener
explore this material. The next work was the Altar. Large-sized object built of various types of packaging and inorganic waste. It started with a great collection of materials. People put boxes aside for me, juice cartons, cans, bottles. Fortunately, by that time I’d already managed to organize an additional place for the studio, so I did not have to
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PRESENTATION
Monika Szpener sleep with all this. I referred to the form of the work to the Gothic altar, on which a video screening of the mixed extracts of TV commercials was screened.
Seats, caps, photo by A. Golc
Fragment of the seat from the bottle cap, photo by A. Golc
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
[L&F]: Among your projects there are also benches? What was their reception by the audience? What happened to them? [Monika Szpener]: Benches has been on permanent display for over 10 years at the Technical Museum of Art Depot in Szczecin. It was the first project dedicated to public space. They arouse as much interest as trouble, in the sense of acts of vandalism. It turned out that the implementation of projects in the urban space is much more complicated than in the gallery, a place socially designated for an artistic experiment. Audiences
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PRESENTATION
Monika Szpener
sometimes reacted with admiration, and sometimes they fell into extreme negation — these were captivating observations of emotional behavior towards my art. This fits in with my assumption of perceptual sensitization, a kind of broadening the field of attention. Fight against the common reproduction of limited patterns. I think that this project somehow permanently labelled me an eco-artist and, as you can see, I continue to do penance, although since then I've done plenty other realizations about completely different subjects. Now I’m coming back, I’m more inclined towards figurative sculpture in the postcommunist sense, which I treat as a synthesis of previous stages of work, in which figuration, aesthetics of waste and popular culture and thinking in terms of design coincide with work within a conceptual framework of space. [L&F]: In addition to the objects in the open space, you also create utility objects — lamps, tables, seats? What is the interest in these items? Who wants to buy "rehabilitated garbage”? [Monika Szpener]: Most of them were companies that derive their activity from this segment or are clearly associated with it. I made a number of dedicated projects, for example for REMONDIS or EKO — Punkt Warszawa, also for Kompania Piwowarska SA, Żywiec and several other more or less recognizable brands. Nevertheless, the work which at that time I created as an answer, an alternative or even a critique of consumerism (I’ve not been using garbage for a few years now), and artificially created trends fueling the capitalist economy, were absorbed by this system. Two decades ago, it became very popular and fashionable to use models built around the
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PRESENTATION
Monika Szpener
idea of recycling, upcycling and broadly understood life in the style of "bio", "eco" and "fair trade". What initially was a grass-roots alternative and counter movement soon became a well-selling product — a top-down trend. This multiplication of various pararecycling events and the adaptation and commercialization of this trend by international corporations significantly devalued the significance of my then artistic expression. It has often been read abbreviated and placed in a row — contrary to my assumptions — along with new consumer products with the proud prefix of ECO. The most eminent expression of this situation was the title of "Eco Szczecin Dweller" from 2016. I received a plastic, mass-produced statuette. Pretty ironic. [L&F]: On your website you can find photos of many projects. In the "Transformations" tab we can find spatial forms that were made of rubbish. We also read: "She processes what is rejected, she integrates again what is disintegrated, renews, revives, brings back to life." Can then work with waste have a transcendental dimension? How does such "uplift" look like? [Monika Szpener]: These statements are already well established in the sociology and anthropology of culture. Zygmunt Bauman, starting from such a diagnosis of contemporary culture, shows in his books how this attitude towards the object translates into our interpersonal relationships both in the area of private and community life. It is enough to recall, on the one hand, the phenomenon of commodification of interpersonal relations, and on the other hand, the migration policy or the way the state authorities administer the poorest part of society. This transformation of the way objects are managed into social relations — whether in
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Monika Szpener
From the cycle odNowa, picnic basket, photo by Wnuk
metaphorical or even literal form — is very important to me today and finds a significant place in my work. [L&F]: Since I have already asked about the spiritual dimension, it is probably time to go to the "reNew" project. Its main heroes became the cemetery "Jesuses", which in
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PRESENTATION
Monika Szpener
Poland can be perceived as blasphemy. How was this project perceived? Why did you decide to implement such objects? [Monika Szpener]: The starting point of the "reNew" project from 2012 was the religious context and figurines of Jesus I found in the garbage of the Szczecin necropolis. I spent a lot of time in the cemetery because of the reconstruction and conservation work conducted there. I observed people discarding objects of worship and tomb decorations: a fairly common phenomenon which causes ambivalent feelings. My attention was drawn to the very low artistic and aesthetic level of these objects, which also seemed to perfectly reflect the devaluation of spiritual values. I transformed the found figures of Jesus ("passions") and transferred them to the nonreligious context of popular and consumer waste culture. At the intersection of these worlds, in my opinion, interesting meanings have revealed that trigger a multidirectional reflection on contemporary culture. It can be said that I moved the strategy of recycling consumer waste to the level of recycling ideas and meanings during this implementation. Certainly, my goal was not to create controversy. This method is essentially foreign to me. The religious context was only a starting point, one that lent useful associations and connotations to a reflection on a consumer society. In Szczecin, this realization was noticed by public opinion, but it did not cause indignation. The Gazeta Wyborcza published a quite extensive article, in which the Catholic community expressed its opinion on this work, quite balanced and devoid of biased allegations. Part of the work from this project was shown at the SCOPE art fair in Miami in 2012. There the work was received as auto-critical and partly bought by
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PREZENTACJE
Monika Szpener
Pokemons, photo by A. Golc
private collectors. To this day, I still receive inquiries about the possibility of selling or making a similar statuette based on a figurine of Jesus.
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PRESENTATION
Monika Szpener
[L&F]: Fascinating! I didn’t expect this. You don’t only deal with trash and findings. You have carried out many involved projects — also politically. Could you tell us about the most moving or demanding projects? [Monika Szpener]: Pokemons are sculptures of world political characters portrayed as the heroes of the popular Japanese computer game designed by Nintendo. The images of Donald Trump, Jaroslaw Kaczyński, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un and Angela Merkel were transformed by myself into fictional "pocket monsters”. I showed this work, among some others, as part of an artistic residency at "MeetFactory" in Prague (2018), at the exhibition "Skip the line! Populism and promises of modernity” as part of the Biennale Warsaw (2018) and at the exhibition "New Dictionary of Old Ideas” at the TRAFO Trafostacja Sztuki in Szczecin (2019). In this realization, I assume that the current populist world of politics is a deeply media-orientated and simulated reality, constructed on the model of pop-culture products, such as comic books or computer games. There is no room for nuance, discussion, doubts or reflections, and above all for involvement in difficult social issues. There are two opposing sides of the conflict: drawn with a thick line of heroes with internet memes instead of human faces and the struggle between good and evil. It is a world of contrasts and cosmic proportions in which moral categories are applied to everything. Such an animalistic way of presenting strong actors of politics is ultimately a longstanding tradition of the zoomorphic view of the ruler — from the mannerist bizarre to the Polish TV zoo. He takes the grotesque shot from the "prevailing" horror of power, and through humor rescues from being stuck in a social hell. The Pokemon series can be treated as a contemporary version of this tradition, referring to pop / post-political
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Monika Szpener
thinking, the world of the "show of politics", a policy treated in terms of a media spectacle. Stach Szabłowski (2018) in "Przekrój" wrote about this cycle as follows: "Powerful politicians, transformed by the artist into grotesque creatures, look funny, but in fact there is nothing to laugh at, unless we want to mock with ourselves ". [L&F]: During one of the Light Move Festivals in Lodz, you presented one of my favorite works — Łąka Polska (Polish Meadow). It is a work that combines light and a kind of darkness. On the one hand — watched in the dark, it delights. On the other — if you can see what these luminous flowers are, it scares you a bit. To me this perversity hits. Making flowers with jaw impressions was quite perverse and quite funny. I spent a lot of time at this work, photographing it in different shots. Do you often reach for such perversity? What kind of emotions do you want to cause? [Monika Szpener]: It was a light installation in a park space consisting of more than two hundred plaster casts of jaws collected from prosthetic establishments in Poland. Missing teeth were complemented with glowing LED implants, creating the impression of a luminous, blooming meadow. Sick parts of the body have become seemingly decorative and visually pleasing objects, the origin of which is revealed only following very close examination. The work can be read as a kind of plastic record of the condition of Polish society, as well as the confrontation of the beauty and order of nature with the prose of everyday life. Human bones, the skull, and especially teeth as an element of disintegration, getting rid of the body while still alive, remind about the inevitability of death and write this work into the subject of vanitas. The Łódź version of Polish Meadow had a white-and-
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PRESENTATION
Monika Szpener
red form, intended to reflect the socio-political context. In the planned future versions of this work — including in the TRAFO Trafostacja Sztuki in Szczecin and The National Museum of Art in Osaka, "Power of Error" exhibition prepared for 2020 — the whole structure will remain white, clearly reflecting the existential level, the subject of death and passing.
From the cycle: Carefully, do not look, photo by A. Roguszczak
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PRESENTATION
Monika Szpener
[L&F]: Polish Meadow was not the only project using light. What is light for you in individual projects? How to control its variability? How can tame the light to work according to the intention of the creator / creator? [Monika Szpener]: Light has a significant impact on the modeling of spatial forms, which is why so often the forms that I create are white, emphasizing their visual arts with the modeled light. Light is also often an integral part of the composition, particularly in the ideological layer. For example, at a project with neon lights, one for Trafo, an art transformer, which I developed last year and which is to be located on the front facade of the building of this institution. Neon will have the form of the inscription: "This house brings up the disobedient, wise and strong faithful disobedient, malicious, wayward social scum, the vicious and neglected." This is a sentence that appeared in the eighteenth century on the building of a school standing in the same place as the gallery today. Quite archaic in the wording, the operative part maintains an ambiguous actuality regarding the art gallery as a place that has the ambition to raise society through culture and art. This is one of the projects that shows my sculptural thinking about space. What is important to me is the multi-level context of the place and the desire to recycle, renew and update the existing, existing in a given space meanings. Another project in which light becomes a material is the object Fri "Do not look," which in a symbolic sense, is the victory of spontaneity, corporeality, sensuality over the intellect, law and convention. In the work "Do not Look," the neon engages the gaze with even greater force. In this prohibition, perseverance is even more difficult, especially if we take into account its historical function. Neon is a form of outdoor
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Monika Szpener
advertising. The prohibition of looking has therefore been expressed here in a medium that connotes with consumer desire. Neon wants the viewer's attention just to deny it, becoming a consumption ban on consumption. Of course, the light was the basis for the works I had in my time with Ms. Pawlosky as a „nieDAsie" duo. Garbage, seemingly chaotic compositions were illuminated with a video projection in a significant way, changing their character. [L&F]: Thank you very much for your time and amazing conversation.
https://www.facebook.com/leciwkosmos/
Landescape, photo by A. Golc Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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PRESENTATION
Adriana Lisowska
Jewelry is a statement Your first encounter with contemporary jewelry changes your understanding of the essence of jewelry, and will always affect how you later see it. You can communicate through jewelry. Jewelry is about continuously solving riddles, analyzing issues, interpreting signs, the absorption and the processing and transfer of energy: ongoing processes aimed at capturing an idea and locking it in the form of the jewelry. Contemporary jewelry can be seen as a form of high art*). Contemporary jewelry offers a great deal of flexibility in the choice of material and techniques, and whatever else with the aim of best expressing the content of the message. The material itself does not determine the value. Therefore, not only are traditional materials used, but also those less commonly associated with the art of jewelry.
Adriana Lisowska "Print", brooch, Baltic amber, silicone, wood, human hair, steel.
*) No concrete established definition for contemporary jewelry exists in most commonly-available Polish studies on jewelry. The lack of any such distinction is one of the reasons why jewelry is often misunderstood even by the creators themselves. Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Adriana Lisowska
The awareness of the traditional understanding of jewelry as a purely utilitarian element reveals its close relationships with the body. This closeness is another value that its creators use when searching for and bestowing meaning.
Adriana Lisowska "Context", brooch, amber, acrylic mirror, steel.
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Adriana Lisowska
Gray Flamingo, "Adoration", brooch, wood, photography, acrylic, steel. Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Adriana Lisowska
The artist can also draw on the use of context. Sometimes, even a simple decorative brooch, attached to the lapel of a man's jacket, can become a statement imbued with important content.
Adriana Lisowska "Agenda setting", brooches set, amber, ebony, steel. Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Adriana Lisowska
Jewelry that provokes reflection, arouses emotions that go beyond the aesthetic experience and supports the recipient in externalizing his own manifesto is as valuable as paintings, sculptures or artistic fabric.
Adriana Lisowska "Chance", brooch, amber.
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Adriana Lisowska
I believe that contemporary jewelry is a perfect 'freshener' for amber, freeing it from associations with kitsch and ostentatiously poor design. Just a small re-animation of a block of resin. https://www.facebook.com/grayflamingo/
Adriana Lisowska "Context", brooch, amber, acrylic mirror, steel. Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Adriana Lisowska
Adriana Lisowska „Imitation", necklace, polyester.
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Adriana Lisowska
Adriana Lisowska "Purification", cheap bracelet with ambers, fire. Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Adriana Lisowska
Adriana Lisowska "Now", brooch, amber, bean sprout, steel. Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Adriana Lisowska
Adriana Lisowska "Urban nomad�, brooch, amber, ebony, aluminum, steel.
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GALLERY Elena Baila Albrizzi https://www.instagram.com/elena.baila/ https://www.behance.net/elenabaila https://vimeo.com/elenabaila https://www.facebook.com/ elenabailalbrizzi/ 001 - 004 clinical geometries (series) 2017 1 - 12 motherboard-rebirth (series) 2006
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GALLERY
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Elena Baila Albrizzi
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GALLERY
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Elena Baila Albrizzi
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Elena Baila Albrizzi
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Elena Baila Albrizzi
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GALLERY
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Elena Baila Albrizzi
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GALLERY
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Elena Baila Albrizzi
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Elena Baila Albrizzi
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Elena Baila Albrizzi
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Elena Baila Albrizzi
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Elena Baila Albrizzi
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Elena Baila Albrizzi
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Elena Baila Albrizzi
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Elena Baila Albrizzi
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Elena Baila Albrizzi
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Elena Baila Albrizzi
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Elena Baila Albrizzi


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POETRY SECTION Edit. by Ĺ ucja Lange
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Mateusz Kocowski
Pencil If you use one side, you could erase what was created using the other. Yet, it seems to be a mistake to divide it into the first and the other one since it is a pencil – a tool, specific product and sometimes a chisel. But since it was bought, this pencil, the very pencil lying quietly in the drawer filled with things that should have landed in the waste bin long ago, was not given a chance to show what made it angry, what would make it shed tears if it only could cry. For weeks, it watched a man, a man stained with a whole lot of life shades, use similar but not identical pencils. These pencils were more like the man because of the weariness, time that managed to leave its mark on them. The pencil got extremely impatient because it also wanted to leave its mark through the hands of this elderly drawing master. But it was not meant to be, as the man died. He left one morning without a word, leaving everything behind: people, animals, work, and time It might seem that there was no hope left for the pencil, that its perfectly sharpened tip would never contribute to making a line, and that the eraser would not contribute to wiping off what a human hand has fudged in a moment of weakness when suddenly a girl appeared, one young, smart and totally out of place in that room full of death.
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Mateusz Kocowski
The girl had blond shoulder-length hair and long velvet-smooth legs. The girl was a granddaughter of the one who died and she was not over 18 years of age. The pencil did not really understand why the girl was so busy here, because he did not understand that the room started belonging to her as well as the whole apartment unfamiliar to the pencil; as soon as the girl cleaned her grandfather's study to the point that she finally decided that you can work here, she took out a pencil from a drawer filled with rather superfluous things, and the pencil which had not been touched for weeks. The girl drew the first lines and the pencil, as it craved for self-fulfillment, allowed itself to collaborate with her and to collaborate in a way that the man who worked here for years had never experienced. First, the girl created a face, a face with weary eyes that have seen a lot already. Then she added a body with excessive fat on it, with the belly protruding all too much. The girl created a man with short legs and hands like two loaves of bread, a man whose head was a battlefield of the struggle between youth and old age. And then she put the pencil back in place, into the drawer so that the pencil could rest before the next day, a day when the girl created further drawings.
The girl decided that she would create a runner, she would create him losing weight, in a single run; that she decided to do it in the form of an old-fashioned
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Mateusz Kocowski
animation so day by day, hour after hour, line after line, she drew on small pieces of paper a man in ever new poses which were not very different from each other. And when she was nearing the end of her work on the figure of a man, she decided that it was not enough and that she would draw something else. The pencil was thrilled it was asked to participate in sketching the ambulance and a couple of paramedics fighting for the man’s life, because the man who had been invented by the girl suffered a heart attack during the last few days of the run. The girl wanted to give the story she created a happy end, in which the man comes around and lives happily ever after but the pencil broke in two. And it was a magic pencil which did not portray but rather created; the pencil was different than any other pencil, and that is why the girl’s grandfather never dared to use it.
* A man with weary eyes which were every day burdened with the sight of unnecessary things, a man with plump posture, short hands and legs decided that he would lose weight and since he wanted to lose weight, he started to running. He hit the road in an outfit not quite suitable for any sport. With his belly far ahead of the rest of his body, he moved forward, losing weight at the pace he himself found amazing, at an unnatural pace, in which nobody loses weight. But it made him happy because he
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Mateusz Kocowski
wanted to get rid of his belly and because it was happening he ran faster and faster like in an old-fashioned animation prepared with the use of a hand and pencil, and a series of small pieces of paper, until he fell, fell to the ground and did not get up, and after a while, paramedics appeared, they arrived by his side in an ambulance left in the background of this event. And they tried to rescue him, truly, decidedly and unquestionably they did all they could but they could not save him and the resuscitation they started brought no effect as if something broke inside the man, something inside him broke in two and the thing that broke could not be mended even with the most elaborate means.
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Anna Rybkowska
Reanimation Brygida decided to make something of herself. All the problems with men she had been through made her realize that she still had maybe five final years before she resigns for good from pheromones, butterflies in her stomach or whatever. And then she’ll start to gradually age and degrade. It’s nothing new that this process is more gentle with men, because despite their many advantages (giving birth? being housewives? gossiping about your friends? proving we’re better than those from Mars or maybe even their equal?! ), let’s admit that women are unfortunately treated neglectfully. Give it some time: someday she’ll be a proper matron, with a lorgnon in her hand, casting her vampire eye over the girls waiting to be married, gossiping about dowries and flirts by the wall at the debutante ball. If she could only start to eat less! With some regret, she gave up the sweets that until now had struck a successful balance with her, allowing her to briefly forget about her failures, the fact that she finds it hard to put up with herself, and now she must get back to a normal diet. Five years had passed since the breakup of the relationship which had given her two, now adult, children; this five years was a sufficiently long ruderal period, when her neglected femininity lay fallow like any needless trinket, to a head that did not even deserve a brass alloy crown. It is
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Anna Rybkowska
true that you eat to fight unhappiness, blunders, mistakes and a broken heart. Even if there are reasons to get a grip, it’s easier to do nothing but grumble. To immerse yourself in regret, in alcohol, or just snacking, which gives birth to endless remorse. Substitute topics, like having several clever theories about living alone, served as adequate fodder for an evening with another single friend in a chat room. But they could never substitute for life. She replaced her remorse with hope. And candies, cookies, halva and nuts in chocolate with dried fruit, these being fruits as such, but not all of them! Then she gave up meat, with the exception of boiled poultry, low-fat fish and, from time to time, beef in the form of high-quality tartare, without additives. Her cat loves the latter, and she willingly shares it with her, at least there is less left for Brygida. She started counting calories, avoiding fats. Goodbye, delicious blue cheese, ripe romadur, creamy camembert, welcome mozzarella light, fat-free concrete-like cottage cheese that tastes like shit in puerperium. But you can stand it! Can you? Yes, you can! If you are motivated, with caution. Likewise, zero percent kefir, Icelandic yogurt like floor-paste... no, no. No! It was full of fat! And milk, semiskimmed. Fat is your enemy! She had a lot of it, she collected it everywhere! And how much effort does it cost to get rid of it? At least, once she felt warm in the cold, because the lining under her skin acted like a woollen sweater. But no time for sentiment or cheap savings! It is better to invest in a new jacket than to carry
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Anna Rybkowska
on the shell of excess. Living proof of your weakness of character! How can you control your life if you do not control your body? From now on her shopping trips were prolonged by reading labels. She had no idea how much of the periodic table had been put into everything. How much fat! Every ready meal or its substitute is basically just carbohydrates and fats. She voluntarily gave up many of life’s conveniences, then again, although they were cheaper, they didn’t offer much else. She also decided that her diet was nobody’s problem (except for this text) so she would not behave like her friend who counts calories aloud at the table every time she get invited somewhere. The charm of such people lies in the fact that they torment everyone around with their worries, trying to educate them and spouting pathetic opinions about the things you can find in white sausage or mayonnaise. She also split with coffee and strong tea. But here she had one more objective. Your teeth do not change their color so much when you drink fruit teas and herbs. She did even more! She started physical labour. She found employment as a chamber maid at a hotel! She came to the conclusion that mental work causes muscle relaxation. She was not fit enough for jogging in the neighborhood, it was enough that her tongue wasn’t hanging down to her waist when she was looking for the key to the door after climbing the stairs to the second floor. She was good Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Anna Rybkowska
to herself. And she saw many people walking in the park. Of different age. With audio equipment, anti-shock devices, and with tools for monitoring effort of burnt calories… Originally, her desperation was enough. As she burned so many calories working as a chamber maid– and sometimes walked few stops if the weather was good – that when she got home after eight hours at work, she fell on the bed like a cut ear of grain. And she was not hungry at all! At work, together with the branch of experienced female employees, she sometimes could not even eat a whole apple. If it has to be done, it will be done. And so she was the weakest link in the chain! Fifteen rooms were emptied; they had to be taken care by 4 p.m. Plus two conference rooms. Stairs, lobbies, audio-visual rooms. Rooms with bathrooms and the latter with shower cabins. She slowly became an expert in the range from baths and showers to cabins. The worst are the fully-glazed, transparent glass ones framed with nickel-plate that should be shined and polished. No streaks! Surrounded by numerous whores because her female co-workers were compact, slim and muscular young ladies, elegant in their own way, decorated with gold, dressed up and with proper hair-does. They made a lady-like impression… until they opened their mouths. They did not utter a sentence without specific commas. Soon, as she avoided cursing and didn’t smoke cigarettes, they began to avoid her like a pile of dog mess on the kerb. Well, quid pro quo. She had a gym there for free! She was still paid for it! Less than fourteen zloty per hour. She regularly Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Anna Rybkowska
went on internal emigration, articulating only inquiries as “the new one” and answering possible questions or allegations. Moments when she catches her breath, when they drink such strong coffee that the spoon could not move in it. Unwashed glasses, and a special test – with the lights off because the windows were in the front – streaks, any microscopic negligence was noted by the manager – after all, they pay you for it, damn it! Bah! She fell so low that she finished the bathroom on her knees, without a mop. But she lost five kilos after a month! She fitted in the jacket which she no longer thought she could zip on – not only that but you could move the buttons in it because it was a bit loose! It didn’t matter that she cried in the manager’s office because nobody had ever humiliated her, a former mother and wife, so much by writing all the defects she was supposed to… remedy in the emptied rooms. She remembered how to replace large rolls of toilet paper using a key, she remembered the key to the vacuum cleaner, she remembered how to dust the furniture, how to do the top plates and boards and glass panes in bookcases. That the fridge must be turned off and open. That the green towels do diagonally, and the white ones go to the shower tray and the bathroom, that you need to zero the heating, you should roll up the bedding, the pillows must be of the same size, not messy but sometimes you came across mess! That disposable soaps and shampoos have to be used if the dispensers do not work (how should she know if they damn work?). That the chairs are two for double suites, that the spoons and Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Anna Rybkowska
glasses need to be supplemented, but how if they do not have any in the kitchen? That you have to tighten the flaps from the toilet seats (was she a janitor?), polish the shower trays because you can see spots of the water in the light… that the chrome parts must shine and be free of fingerprints, and the rubbish bins must have the bags of proper size replaced (the bins also need to shine like bull’s eggs!), mineral water on the table, TV, covers on the beds, puffed quilts (do you know what puffed means?), airing, laying shutters, removing loose threads from the towels… Help!!! But she lost weight. She begins to see her own bosom! And she regained her waist – a relative she had not seen for a long time! She begins to check dresses and normal clothes in stores, not tents and tablecloths. And she does not care about the rest, it’s just a job, it’s not her life. She doesn’t need to be a perfect chamber maid until they fire her on the spot, and they are not likely to do it. Maybe she’ll leave in the spring. When she masters control, re-discovers the taste of the femininity in which she believes. Because she is not convinced by a substitute anymore. She wants to live her full life, run on the beach and enjoy lightness, slenderness. Shape. She senses the first symptoms of satisfaction. She’s started to learn Spanish! Yes, in this brain-damaging work! And a grand moment has come. She passed the reception desk in the fitness club. She, a woman with a past, a woman who has spent half of her life as a bookworm! She signed up. obviously, she is not fully convinced if this is the right Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Anna Rybkowska
thing to do. Because when they scanned her fingertips to activate the hatch to the sanctuary – a sanctuary glazed and available not only to the ones having a club card but also accessible with an individual code –the software detected her finger. Apparently, this was the first time! Well… She did not blend her fingers, she never burned them to such point, she was just a wife and mother. Right-handed, her whole life. As a last resort, after testing all her fingers of both hands one by one, she began to think about her feet, but… winter was coming so it would not be very handy. And then the system reset and Brygida’s thumb, triumphantly, started the system! Reanimation continues. She is doing it for herself. And she is stronger than ever!
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Justyna Michniuk
Black and white world The child of my German friend with pale complexion and blond hair is black: his father comes from Africa and he did not have a permanent residence permit. So he left for an indefinite period of time and never came back. I mustn’t mention that colour out loud. It is a racist term. I have to talk about the colour of chocolate. Then my words are associated with something sweet and nice. This is permitted. The public accepts the comparison of brown skin to a bar made of cocoa beans and sugar. I am white. I am allowed to say it everywhere and any time. Talking about someone who is white does not have negative connotations. It comes as a statement of fact. The said child asked me a question several years later. Not any question but THE question that people hear at least one time in their life. The three of us were at the town pool. Nothing special, it’s just round the corner and we went there sometimes just to kill time. I stood in the shower trying to wash off the smell of chlorine from my skin. The boy was with us in the ladies’ bathroom. He was only seven years old and we didn’t want him to bathe alone. They were standing in front of me and my friend was laughing at the energetic nature of her son all the time. He could not stay in one place for a moment. When I raised my hands to wash my hair, he saw my tattoo and immediately ran to me. I bent down so that he could move his finger over its rough
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Justyna Michniuk
surface. He stared at the pattern decorating the outside of my arm, while the drops of water from his neck and hair were running down his skin, sliding across the olivecovered smooth surface. ‘What does it mean?’, he asked rubbing once again the inscription on my body. ‘Remember’, I replied shorty and looked at his mother. Carelessly, she was applying soap to her armpits, unaware of how the conversation will develop in a moment. ‘What kind of letters are these? I don’t understand a thing and I already know the alphabet and can even write my name!’, the little guy was proud of himself. ‘This is Hebrew, the language of Jews.’ ‘It is some terrible disease?’ ‘To be a Jew?’, I looked into his dark eyes and he nodded. ‘I don’t think so’, I exchanged glances with his mother. ‘What do you need to remember about?’, he changed the subject and pointed to the tattoo. ‘About all those who are gone, who were liquidated as if they had been affected by some horrible illness.’ ‘So that’s it!’, he shouted in triumph and lost all the interest in me. He ran to his mother to hug her naked belly. She washed his black, curly hair and sent away to bring a towel.
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Justyna Michniuk
‘I hope you don’t care about what he said’, she whispered quietly. Her voice was dampened by the sounds of water flowing continuously from the showers. ‘He is still a child. He talks rubbish. You know’, she tried to smile. I nodded my head. Although I know she was right, I cannot forget his words until today. Each time I recall this event, I can smell the chlorine and hear terrible clatter of water coming out of the showers.
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Mateusz Antczak
Take me to your leader The official party began after 6pm. According to the bon ton rules, called black tie in Anglo-Saxon countries, President Gwalbert Mrówecki was wearing a white shirt, a black tuxedo, a belt, and a bow-tie he tied himself. The style was complemented by varnished Oxford shoes without any perforations. The banquet was one of the first organised by the newly-elected head of the Polish Armed Forces. Mrówecki looked perfect. A forty-two-year-old man, young for a head of state, always showed off an impeccable hairstyle and excellent diction. He excelled in the representative role. So far, he had not yet had the opportunity to appear on international stage as a lawprovider or negotiator The charity auction was over. The President knew that the most boring part of the party was about to begin – handshakes, photos for national daily newspapers, meaningless talks and smiles. He raised a glass of champagne, displayed his perfect teeth and proposed a toast. The gathered guests accepted his words with sincere or feigned enthusiasm. Gwalbert thought about his wife and smiled inside – at least she had it easy! She was at an art exhibition, which she had sponsored. She’d taken the children and left the Belvedere before all the pompous borers and pseudo-celebrities arrived. Hidden in the shadow, a string quartet played non-intrusively, like a classic radio turned on in the kitchen to kill the silence of an empty apartment. Mrówecki fished out
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Mateusz Antczak
the sounds of a cello from a four-voice texture. He focused on the chamber melody before the first officers came so close that he had to pay attention to them. I was interrupted after several casual conversations. ‘Mister President, I am really sorry to interrupt but I need to inform you about something’, whispered the head of security, Colonel Petrecki, a veteran of the Iraq war. Gwalbert trusted him like he did very few people. He excused himself and followed the military man outside the hearing reach of the guests. ‘What is going on, Colonel?’ ‘War, Mister President. An unexpected attack.’ ‘What? East? Russia?’, Gwalbert asked questions without topping to take a breath. ‘No…’ ‘West?!’ ‘No. Mister President, the attack came from above.’ ‘Scandinavia?’ ‘No, not from the north. From above, from the space. The ships of an alien civilization entered the Earth's atmosphere. One of them is heading towards Warsaw. We must evacuate you.’ At first, Mrówecki thought it was some sort of joke but the face of the Government Protection Bureau said something else. ‘What is going to happen to the guests?’
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Mateusz Antczak
‘You first. The others will be informed later. They’ll have time to hide, leave or do whatever they want. But we need to evacuate you to the Banquet before panic breaks out.’ The president nodded even though he found it hard to believe everything he’d heard. Why didn’t they get any warnings? NASA had to know that that unidentified objects were approaching the Earth. He’d spoken to the White House three days ago. The President of the United States congratulated him on taking office, but said nothing of the aliens. ‘Should I say anything? Excuse myself to the guests?’, he asked. ‘We’ll take care of it. Leave by the eastern gate, please. Lieutenant Wrona will take care of you there.’
*** A black Audi was leaving the city in silence, occasionally emerging from the shadows in the yellow light of sodium lamps. ‘Do not worry, Mister President. Your family has also been evacuated and taken to the nearest hiding place. They will join you at the banquet as soon as possible’, explained Lieutenant Wrona, stepping on the gas when they reached the intercity. ‘Do we know where they came from? What do they want? Have they contacted us?’ ‘I don’t know, Mister President. Officers from the 7th Department will update you when we’re there.’
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Mateusz Antczak
The Bureau of Government Protection officially had six departments dealing with security, organization, transport and procurement. The 7th Department was a secret unit responsible for collecting intelligence information. Gwalbert had no more questions to ask. He knew that Wrona wouldn’t give him any answers. She had no access to interesting data. The Banquet was a complex of shelters whose objective was to survive various wartime operations, including atomic threat. A two-store building should accommodate the head of state with the family and a staff of defense management generals. The concrete block buried in the ground was covered with gravel so that it resembled a small earth embankment securing the old railway track. Hence its name, although the Bureau people had changed it as if it referred to some luxurious party. Wrona quickly took the president out of the car and accommodated him at the Banquet. Before Mrówecki could make himself at home, the lieutenant disappeared. The apartment intended for Gwalbert and his family did not resemble the chambers of the Palace at Krakowskie Przedmieście, or even the presidential box at the National Stadium. Bunk beds were covered with military sleeping bags. Apart from the beds, there were also stools and a table, bookcases and an operating centre in the space which served as a dining room. ‘Take a look Mister President’, instructed Major Foltyn, the Head of the 7th Department, putting on the table blurred as if rushed photos. The man who looked like the 17th century gentry member spoke indistinctly, as if his lush mustache blocked the spoken words. For the time being, he was the only commander who had managed to reach the Banquet. Twelve people, including Major
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Mateusz Antczak
Foltyn and six general had been admitted to the presidential shelter apart from the Mrówecki family. ‘They are in Warsaw. Fucking aliens have landed in the city.’ ‘Where exactly?’ ‘In the Chinese Garden. The vehicle resembles a bird egg but it is one hundred times bigger than an egg of a fucking elephant bird’, the military man pointed to a place on the map of Warsaw, a fragment of Łazienki Królewskie. ‘Of what?’ ‘Elephant bird. An ostrich from Madagascar. An extinct bird of Palaeognathae. The egg of this motherfucker was one meter in circumference and weighing ten kilos – that is five times more than an ostrich egg and one hundred and sixty times more than a regular hen's egg. ‘Get to the point, Major! I appreciate ornithology nuances but we have been attacked by, as you put it, the fucking aliens. Any damage?’ ‘None so far. They have not got out of the vehicle.’ The Major’s satellite phone vibrated. The man touched his mustache, stretched a collapsible antenna and put the receiver to his ear – as impressive as his mustache. He listened for a moment. He nodded several times. He objected once. His eyes were getting bigger. ‘What? What’s going on?!’, inquired Mrówecki. ‘Cracks appeared on the egg. Then there was a flash of light and…’ ‘And?! Answer at once! In case you might have forgotten – I am your superior!’
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Mateusz Antczak
‘It was some fucking laser. Multidirectional. It burnt down half a district in a few seconds.’ After forty minutes, a spotter reached the Banquet. He confirmed the earlier information. ‘We have evacuated the neighboring districts and we are watching the enemy from a distance but we don’t know what we are dealing with. Nothing’s crawled out of the ship. Some people suspect an unmanned vehicle or artificial intelligence. I mean... I do not know… a space robot.’ ‘An abiological form of life’, suggested the president. The spotter nodded unconvinced. He left reports from several generals and dropped onto a stool. He was breathing hard. His uniform was covered with blood and his hand was bandaged. His two fingers were missing. ‘I was on the edge of the burn-out zone when the attack happened. I got hit with shrapnel. The shock wave generated by the egg shattered the window panes into small pieces. Glass and other debris were spread a distance of several hundred metres’, he explained when he caught the president’s eye. A few moments later, they watched the aliens walking through the streets of Warsaw on a small screen. If he were not at the Banquet, Gwalbert would have never believed it. He’d probably think the film were a clever computer animation. Foltyn’s expression indicated clearly that it was all really happening. In the evening, Gwalbert recorded a message to Polish citizens. He used a video set which was planned to send the recording to the network by means of a satellite. He
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Mateusz Antczak
asked scientists to solve the problem of the ship of foreign civilization, and other compatriots to fight if necessary. ‘Whatever gets out of the space ship will need to face the Poles!’, he concluded. When he finished recording, Foltyn knocked on the door. ‘They got out. The aliens have spread around Warsaw. They resemble Pacific crabs but the only difference is that they are two meters long’. ‘What the hell are Pacific crabs?’ ‘Shrimps. They have protruding eyes that move independently, catchy jaws and brightly colored shells’, the major spread the plan of Warsaw and its vicinity on the table. Arrows marked with a color pen indicated the direction of the hostile units’ movement. ‘The egg is some fucking space ship. So many have crawled out there’s no way they could all have been in there.’ ‘How many are they?’ ‘At least three regiments. Nine battalions. And new ones appear every now and then.’. The President rubbed his face with his hands. For a moment, he wondered how to react. ‘Where are our branches? How many people do we have?’ he asked. The major pointed to the map, where he had already placed the relevant markers. ‘We could put more of them out there but the aliens spray radioactive fog along the way. We must fight in masks and protective suits. The good news is that lead cuts through these fucking shrimps just like through people.’
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Mateusz Antczak
‘Good. We should spread our forces here and here’, said the President, marking relevant places with a felt-tip pen. ‘We don’t know what they want, so we need to secure all the exits from the city. It seems that one of their battalions is heading in our direction’. ‘Yes, they will pass by Banquet at night and head towards other towns.’ ‘So we cannot hope that further scouts will reach us here’, stated the President. ‘One more thing: why the hell doesn’t anybody else apart from you report to me? Next time, I want it straight from the horse’s mouth’, he added angrily. The Major nodded but said nothing.
*** Gwalbert could not sleep even though it was already the third night since it had all begun. He wondered if his family was safe. So far, they had not received any information from the place where they were evacuated. He checked his watch, which had been chosen specifically for the violently interrupted party. ‘It’s three’, he murmured. Suddenly, his ponderings were interrupted by a disturbing rustle and quiet scraping. He strained his ears, catching every now and then a crunch of the gravel masking Bankiet. Mrówecki wondered what those sounds meant. Foltyn would probably say that these were the fucking shrimps. It might as well be a mouse or a stronger gust of wind. And if it is a surviving soldier or civilian?
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Mateusz Antczak
Gwalbert decided he could not take it anymore. The Major administered information in portions, did not let him make any decisions, and only God knew whether he actually passed on his superior’s instructions. The President slipped out of his room. In the airlock, he put on an anti-radiation suit and a mask. He equipped himself with a semi-automatic pistol, a torch, and a Geiger counter. He squeezed through a small hatch hidden in the bushes and crawled out to the surface. The stars were shining in the distance unobstructed by the light pollution of a nearby city. The area has not changed at all. On the eastern horizon, a viaduct was still barely visible, and in the west the view was limited by the pine grove. Gwalbert walked around the whole Bankiet very carefully but did not see anything suspicious. He only heard the sounds of crickets. He checked the Geiger counter. The arm did not move an inch. ‘What the fuck?!’, he wondered. He found a car parked behind the shelter. The Audi in which Wrona brought him here. If she had left the vehicle here, how had she made it back to the city? Maybe the other officers leaving the president’s hiding place took her with them? Mrówecki slowly opened the car’s doors. He sat behind the wheel and turned on the radio. Several stations were broadcasting commercials as if nothing really happened. “Rampampan” parking lot here, a cure for intimate infections at a great price there. At the fourth attempt, he found the sports news. The announcer read out the Ekstraklasa results:
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Mateusz Antczak
‘Legia Warszawa lost against Lech Poznań zero to two. Kolejorz have moved to the top of the league.’ The President understood nothing of it. How can this be that in the face of alien invasion and the destruction of half of the city, they still played football in Łazienkowska? Gwalbert turned the knob but he did not fish out a single word about the attack from space. Finally, he heard news that made the situation clearer: ‘President Gwalbert Mrówecki has been reported missing. The kidnapping probably involved top rank officers of the Government Protection Bureau. The Sejm Speaker, Józef Kruk, has taken over the duties of the head of the state… Kidnapped! Mrówecki tore the mask off his face. He took off the suit and threw it on the passenger seat. Then he checked all the car compartments for keys. With no effect. He tried to remember how to start a vehicle ‘using cables’. He has seen it done so many times in his favorite post-apocalyptic series, but he never thought that this kind of knowledge might prove useful. He was desperately searching for a solution. He did not hear the approaching steps. He only cooled down when he heard Foltyn’s voice. ‘Is this what you are looking for Mister President?’, asked the Major, waving the keys on a chain made of four rings in front of his nose. The men pulled their guns at the same time.
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Mateusz Antczak ***
The tablecloths were snow-white, and the silverware looked expensive even from a distance. The Speaker of the Sejm, now acting as the President of the Republic of Poland, and the president of the opposition party, from which the speaker came, settled down comfortably, waiting for service. The security guards stayed outside. A young man in a flawlessly ironed shirt appeared in less than two minutes. The guests did not need to wait long at ‘U Puchacza’. ‘We’ll have fried calamari with aioli gravy’, they declared, returning the menu to the restaurant employee. ‘An excellent choice if you like the flavors of Spain’, replied the waiter. ‚I recommend the French Domaine des Malandes – dry white wine from the Grand cru Vaudésir vineyards. The clayish ground makes the structure of this drink extremely long and complex. It will be perfect for calamari’. The guests nodded and signalled to the waiter that he should leave them alone now. ‘I cannot believe that our plan worked out. But will we do now? We can’t keep, hm, this parcel for ever. Maybe we should… you know.’ ‘No, he can still be useful for us. If necessary, we will return the parcel to the sender and we will become heroes.’ The waiter brought their wine. They toasted. ‘Here’s to success!’
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Mateusz Antczak
Their satisfaction did not last long. Before the toast and rattle of crystal glasses were over, an anti-terrorist unit ran into the restaurant. Without any questions, they jumped to the politicians, knocked them to the ground and handcuffed them. Before Kruk and his recent superior managed to get swear at the officers, explaining to them whom they were facing, someone else came into the restaurant. The man smoothed the jacket of a battered tuxedo and looked around with dignity. ‘Take me to your leader’, stated Gwalbert Mrówecki with amusement that did not really suit the situation.
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Anna Rybkowska
“I pray to you my God in whom I do not believe… I pray to you with my torn-to-pieces prayer…” (Witold Zechenter – Modlitwa)
Confession When the church was so dark, it was easier to approach the altar. Anonymously. Without being recognized by anybody. The clatter of heels on the hard, stone floor did not announce the culprit. Just a request for help, a small, fleeting gaze full of pain, sent in the direction of figurine of the Worried. He did not look anyway, lost in his suffering. Maybe she was being unfair? Stepping on the creaking threshold of an old confessional, she quickly made the sign of the cross and whispered a greeting: ‘Praised be Jesus Christ. ‘Forever and ever’. ‘I confess to God Almighty and to you, father...’, she spat out the basic formula quickly and without thinking, giving her data, age and the number of children in marriage, before she got to the point of the matter. In fact, she did not begin to confess her sins but she continued her inner monologue... The words spilled out – painful and pure. Like beads of a torn rosary.
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Anna Rybkowska
‘You know that small children mean a small problem. Big children ... We also know it. My daughter is preparing for the final exam this school year. I am worried about her future. She seems to have some plan, she wants to study at an art school. She is, as they say, capable but lazy. In addition, she is absorbed completely by other matters than learning. For several months, she has been dating a married man much older than her. They met in a pub. He approached her and talked. My daughter told only me about this relationship, asking for my discretion. My husband does not know anything. I lie to him that she’s dating one of her peers, someone more suitable. I’m stuck in these lies. I know that he should know everything, like I do. But my husband is a quicktempered man, he would react abruptly. I’m afraid my daughter would cut us off, maybe even run away from home. I tried to explain to her that such a relationship has no future, that she is young and should not get engaged in an affair with a man who has a wife and is burdened with children. She should understand that she is hurting them, taking the father away from the children and destroying the bond between him and that woman. I tried to bring her up well, she did not have bad examples at home. She did not have such patterns even in her distant family. I thought she was sensitive and would find herself a boyfriend who would appreciate her and would not call her secretly to meet her at some motels when his wife is out of town. I explain to her that she cannot bring him home, show him to her family. She doesn’t even have photos of them together. That she’ll never have plans for the future. This relationship will kill all her illusions and will
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Anna Rybkowska
teach her only to calculate. I try to talk her out of this humiliating arrangement. Because it is an arrangement that simply does not offer anything! ‘Did the daughter start intercourse with him?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘So she is not afraid of the consequences, of being a single mother?’ ‘I went to a gynecologist with her and she gives her prescriptions for pills.’ Thing were heating up behind the box of the confessional. Before the priest rolled out the guns, she continued: ‘I think that contraception is better than unwanted pregnancy.’ ‘You should have told tell her about the consequences of such sinful intercourse! She’s very young, she probably doesn’t have to start her sex life if…’ ‘She claims that all her friends have been with someone for a long time and have sex. She was the last of her friends. She wanted to have someone, find him at all costs. She felt worse. She suffered because other girls dated at the weekends and during the holidays, and she was stuck with us. Still only with her parents and siblings. You have no idea what young people are like today. They feel a constant drive for adulthood, independence, freedom and sex. They don’t live according to ideas. It is a different generation. We walked under the monument of Mickiewicz and we wore resistors in sweaters, but they want to quickly settle down, preferably to leave the country and not be alone. They say that our fight and risks didn’t bring us anything! They laugh at the Solidarność people because most of them got the power and “live their full”. We fought for an eight-hour working day and how is it related to working after studies, almost for
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Anna Rybkowska
nothing, like in volunteering, often without a salary, just to have any employment whatsoever. What are we to accept today without any objection? The banks are cheating on us. So they say. And the banking world, about which Tuwim wrote in “Kwiaty Polskie”? That it should be banished, that it is overwhelming us, drinking Polish blood and only the retired get less and less because we have to wage wars outside our country to restore peace. And for a lot of money. And unemployment will continue to grow, young people are discouraged by the decision to work until old age because who will employ them? They would like to have a life and family, now, immediately, as soon as possible but there are no prospects. Unless you exhibit your backside like Doda or tear the Bible apart like Nergal. The others, the ones who are not famous, are left behind and pauperised, at a faster and faster pace. You get more thefts, more robberies, lack of respect for the elderly, because of the struggle for work. Ads promote an easy and enjoyable life and who really has it? Even kids want expensive toys because before they are shown before the bedtime cartoons! And here comes Christmas Eve and you think that you can only put a good word under the Christmas tree because the bills eat the rest. My husband gets paid so little that we don’t even have enough money to pay the rent. And what about the rest? We have four children, they all go to school. My son didn’t get a penny from the scholarship yet and it is already December! For twenty years the local government tried to convince me of their good intentions, they proclaimed noble truths about family and pro-family policy. With my many children I don’t get anything.
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Anna Rybkowska
Nobody anywhere has sorted it out. Is it any wonder that every girl wants to be a Top Model like Krupa today? That they do not want to study because they earn more by having shapely butts than by bending over a book or ruining their sight at a computer. ‘You should not allow your daughter to take birth control pills! It is not the attitude of a Christian woman to take her to a doctor, to give her the prescription! And you should tell her that sex begins after marriage, not earlier. And not with another married man. How can you calmly look at the destruction of someone’s family ?!’ ‘What should I do?’ ‘Ban it. Keep her in, and if necessary punish her. A good mother anticipates the consequences and fights with her children’s sin. And if she has no other choice, she condemns it and applies sanctions. The one that loves punishes severely! And as for these life attitudes, there are many people working in the oasis and they go on pilgrimages. A lot of young people, in sanctuaries, at meetings with the Holy Father… Such attitudes matter, one cannot draw from the dirt of this world but one should seek purity and follow it. Your daughter is still young, you can change her nature but you need to be firm, consistent and set a good example.’ ‘And what if she does not listen? She’ll run away and do things her way? And I do love her anyway. I pray that I am punished for her mistakes…’ ‘You can be sure that it will happen. She should know that you do not negotiate when it comes to morality. There are bans and strict discipline! And your concession means that you trivialise Satan!’ ‘I am worried I will lose my daughter…’
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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Anna Rybkowska
‘You know what the Lord said about sinful members? When your eye is sinning – take it out! And your hand, when sinful – cut it off!’ ‘This is not about me. Only about my child!’ ‘Every mother is an egoist if she thinks the child is given to her once and for all. The Lord has made you His servant and called you to motherhood. He did not say that you have to stick to it at all costs. The good and its fruits are most important. And your hypocrisy against your husband creates a chasm between you. You are digging yourself a ditch that you will fall into one day, and even your beloved daughter will not give you a hand!’ She listened to these words with increasing terror. Should she give up her daughter? Should she banish her from her home? ‘Father, please, I came here for consolation. I know that my daughter is doing wrong and she is also aware of that. However, she fell in love with this man and allows herself to be used in the name of this ...’ ‘Love is a lofty, pure feeling, capable of every sacrifice! You do not need to be comforted but receive a penance!’ ‘But I’m trying hard to understand her. I pray for someone who will stand in her way and teach true love.’ ‘So you want to trade with God?’ ‘No. I see that she is lonely and I’m trying to understand her...’
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
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PROSE
Anna Rybkowska
‘You must make her aware of the vice and let her feel your disgust with how she behaves. Your husband has a stronger personality than you and you’d rather not know about anything!’ ‘I am ill. For years, I have had problems with my heart and severe neurosis. I dream about peace at home. And that we would always be in agreement, together.’ ‘This is not about your idyllic dreams but about condemnation for your daughter! Don’t you realise the sin of negligence that you are committing against God? He is the most important, as a judge, first and foremost! You should defend honour and divine commandments. Instead, you let your daughter live in the sin of adultery, you lie to your husband, you tolerate betrayal and slander! Get yourself together! Go home immediately and make your husband aware that your daughter is shamelessly giving herself to a stranger, without regard to the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth commandments! Give an ultimatum to your daughter that she will either abandon this disgusting relationship or no longer enter your home! As a penance, I instruct you to do the Litany to All Saints three times…’ She did not listen any longer. She got up from her knees and left the confessional raising her forehead. She did not look towards the Worried. She will come here tomorrow again and pray carefully. But now everything was screaming inside her.
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY Adam ERTU Topolski
Dakot https://www.daksovernormandy.com
I dedicate these photos to all former, present and future Dakot crews.
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Adam ERTU Topolski
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Adam ERTU Topolski
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Adam ERTU Topolski
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Adam ERTU Topolski
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Adam ERTU Topolski
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Adam ERTU Topolski
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Adam ERTU Topolski
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Adam ERTU Topolski
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Adam ERTU Topolski
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Adam ERTU Topolski
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Adam ERTU Topolski
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Adam ERTU Topolski
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Adam ERTU Topolski
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Adam ERTU Topolski
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Adam ERTU Topolski
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Adam ERTU Topolski
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Adam ERTU Topolski
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Adam ERTU Topolski
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Adam ERTU Topolski
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Adam ERTU Topolski
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Adam ERTU Topolski
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Adam ERTU Topolski
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Adam ERTU Topolski


Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Adam ERTU Topolski
Animation | RE-animation
GALLERY
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Adam ERTU Topolski
Animation | RE-animation
Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019 Animation | RE-animation (OUT)roduction We have made RE|animation of ourselves. Thanks to that you can read this number. It's hard to find time, but we stay with plans for the future. And it will be dedicated to ANIMAL [#26/2019]. An animal in us. Animals that we observe. Nature versus culture. Beauty. Wildness. Danger. Whatever plays in your soul when you hear this word. Let your imagination run wild. And we will put together all your thoughts in the next issue. The next year will be opened by the issue moved from this summer — PROPHECY [#27/2020]. If you want to predict something, talk to the other world, look behind the curtain — we invite you to do that. Though it will happen in a year. We do not know yet what title the 2020 winter issue [#28] will have — there is a chance that it will not be the last one. Or will it be? The world will not end for a moment. Of course we are not sure. And how about you? OUR FANPAGE OUR WEBSITE
This issue was prepared by: TEXTS: Piotr Kasperowicz, Adriana Lisowska, Łucja Lange POLISH TRANSLATIONS: Łucja Lange POLISH PROOF-READING: Łucja Lange ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS Zofia Piwowarska, Łucja Lange ENGLISH PROOF-READING: Ed VISUAL WORKS: Łucja Lange Mega*Zine Lost&Found #25/2019
Animation | RE-animation