Patrycja Orzechowska

Księżycówka / Moonshine, 2015

place, installation, exhibition

defunct business premises at 51/53 Na Zaspę Street

 

Moonshine is a high-proof, home-made alcoholic drink distilled illegally. Although trade in it is unlawful, for decades it has been a commonly accepted means of payment, and was thus used in illegal barter. Moonshine has connotations of clandestine activities undertaken by the light of the moon, underground, in secret places and out of bounds. In Polish, the word also means postcards with the motif of the moon on them.

Observing the practice of the ad hoc use of space and illegal production and trade, prevalent amongst the Nowy Port residents, the artist annexed defunct business premises in Na Zaspę Street, turning them into a temporary gallery-cum-bar. Inside, she placed apparatus that distils alcohol in front of the viewers’ eyes. The photo-wallpaper fills up the background space with a reproduction print from 1843, showing a 19^th -century lighthouse together with a 19^th-century etching from the artist’s collection, with seabirds flying blindly to the lighthouse attracted by its glare, as well as an installation made of thimbles. An ‘inn’-sign and a bright light, flickering like that of a lighthouse, attract both months and people, beckoning them to step inside.

Still constructor – Artur Gogołkiewicz

Patrycja Orzechowska (b. 1974) – a visual artist, author of artistic books. Photography, collage, installation, utility graphic, film. A graduate of the Faculty of Painting and Graphic, with specialism in graphic, at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsku; in 2000 she graduated with distinction in the studio of Professor Jerzy Krechowicz. Currently, she is a PhD student at the Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Course of the University of Arts in Poznań. A recipient of numerous grants from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Marshal of Pomorze Voivodship and the President of the City of Gdańsk. Her works have been presented in dozens of individual and group exhibitions. The founder of the publishing house JAMI Issue. She lives and works in Gdańsk.