Kopin Katalin (szerk.): Test objektív. A test reprezentációja a kortárs művészetben - Ferenczy Múzeum kiadványai, C. sorozat: Katalógusok 5. (Szentendre, 2013)

Katarzyna Kozyra (Warsaw, 1963-) is one of the most renowned contemporary Polish media artists. In 1999, she represented Poland at the 48th International Venice Art Biennale with a pair of videos entitled Men's Bathhouse, which is also displayed at the present exhibition. Her video installations and performances focus on the decay of the body and the transitory nature of human life. In many cases, she uses her own body as a tool, as a model playing various roles in different costumes. Women’s Bathhouse, which she recorded in 1997, is a six-channel video installation, providing insight into the life of a women’s bathhouse. The artist intended to observe and represent women in a private, safe and intimate milieu where they leave behind all social conventions, stereotypical patterns of behaviour and show their true personality. The atmosphere of the women’s bathhouse was characterised by lively social relationships and caring behaviour. The total, uninhibited self-exposure of the body, the naturalness of movements and gestures provide a genuine picture of human behavioural patterns.

The photo series taken in bathrooms of looming, yellowish atmosphere are connected to classic pictorial prototypes. The evocation of the painting Susanna and the Elders by Rembrandt suggests the artist’s role as a voyeur, as an observer. Another classic artwork appears in the sequence for a few moments: The Turkish Bath by Ingres. Although joyful young women are depicted in the painting, bodies are frail, old and dying in reality. The artist contrasts the regulated body image promoted by society with undisguised reality, the cult of youth with the irreversible physiological changes of the body.

The installation consists of an infinite projected film and the unedited shooting material running on five screens.