Anneliese Michel 2008

A massive quadrophonic audio-environment installation (4k watts) at the former restaurant hall from ca. 1905, in a suburban impoverished district of highly industrialized area of southern Poland, presented during Something Must Break exhibition.
curator: Sebastian Cichocki (Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw).

The exhibition took place within OFF Festival framework, one of the main summer music events in Poland. This work traces the story of Anneliese Michel, Austrian girl allegedly possesed by seven demons, who eventually died in the seventies after several years of exorcisms. The case brought huge criticism towards catholic church for diminishing the need for medical help, ending up in the court. The exorcisms were recorded by the priests on reel tape recorder, and the original sound was used in the installation. It made the desolate restaurant a truly haunted and devilish place, sending thrills down the visitors' spines and violently disturbing neighbouring houses. The exhibition space was shared with the mighty Leif Elggren presenting his posters, audio work and giving a lecture there.

 

(...) W ramach tegorocznej wystawy „Something Must Break”, towarzyszącej Off Festivalowi w Mysłowicach, przygotował [P.Kulczyński] porażającą kwadrofoniczną instalację, umieszczoną w ponurym magazynie na obrzeżach miasta. Była to niewątpliwie jedna z najbardziej diabolicznych realizacji sound-artowych ostatnich lat – materiałem źródłowym były archiwalne nagrania z egzorcyzmów dokonywanych na Anneliese Michel, opętanej dziewczynie, która podczas ataków szału mówiła sześcioma męskimi głosami, podającymi się m.in. za Judasza, Nerona i Hitlera.(...)

Sebastian Cichocki, MSN Warszawa

Installations