“Common Task” is a documented group activity, social sculpture, and a documentary in the convention of science-fiction.
The Warsaw residential district of Bródno-Podgrodzie was built under the communist regime as the residential area for the employees of the car factory, heating plant and the neighbouring industrial plants. In the scenery of the district, [we can see] a group of neighbours living in the same block of flats in no. 13 Krasnobrodzka Street and wearing unusual costumes – golden suits and coats. The golden colour of costumes in addition to the science-fiction connotations evokes thoughts of a fairy-tale like material lavishness. At the same time the colour alludes to the metaphysical dimension of reality. Dressed in the spacesuits, the neighbours become “visitors” to their own neighbourhood, the travellers who balance on the border of two realities – the everyday and domesticated and the fantastic ones. Their appearance interferes with the common perception of reality, introduces a carnival like chaos when reality is put in brackets and the usual existence in the world is torn apart.
The participants in the "Common Task" are selected neighbours, i.e. the neighbours of Paweł Althamer. They participate in joint activities, meetings with various experts and scientists and also they set out on unusual journeys. Of key importance in the creation of events is the initiative of the co-participants, their behaviour in the situations where the common reality of living in the same neighbourhood is confronted with the “uncommon” offers or “fantastic” events. Also interesting may be the responses and interference of the accidental witnesses of the activities which take place in the public areas.
The residents of the communal socialist block of flats also embark on a journey. For example, they set out to see the radical edition of the modernistic architectural and social vision whose embodiment is Brasilia – the capital built in the deep interior of Brazil. They also visit the country of Dogons in Mali.
On the 4th of June over 150 participants of the project arrived in Brussels on a golden Boeing 737 designed by the artist. Their first stop in the city will be Expo 58. with the model of an atom as a starting point of the visit to the city.
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