A Man Eating His Own Tail – Przemek Branas

In the latest installation, “A Man Eating His Own Tail,” Przemek Branas references the transcultural mythical figure of the Ouroboros. Associated with solar cults, the serpent became a symbol of infinity, eternal return, and the cyclical nature of time. This constantly devouring and regenerating mythical creature represented the eternity of matter and the concept of reconciling apparent opposites. However, it was also sometimes interpreted as a symbol of foolishness, going in circles, or irrational behavior.

Non-linear and magical thinking about time was the foundation of many indigenous and pre-Enlightenment epistemologies. Today, the figure of the Ouroboros reappears in the philosophy of Timothy Morton, who advocates replacing linear and rational thinking with complexity, looping, and ambiguities. Strangeness becomes the principle of the present. The hybrid form of the man-serpent is a model for all beings that are tragically intertwined with other, non-human existences and processes of varying scales. There is no escape from the loop, no emancipation or control over it. It’s time, then, to learn how to dance in circles.

Branas works closely with the surrounding material, experimenting with his own techniques and using natural materials and objects found in the botanical garden, in allotments, during beach walks, or in vegetable markets in the El Raval district. He creates comets from supermarket brochures, ancient masks from fruit peels, and archetypal figures from found plants and sticks. His works emerge as the result of experiments and performances in which the artist incorporates natural processes—such as the passage of time, solar energy, vegetation, or decay. Branas takes on the roles of botanist, ethnographer, and inventor, and sometimes a cosmic trickster. Using multiple cultural codes, he creates a visual narrative about the potential for transformation and the sweetness of stagnation, which can be interpreted on personal, ecocritical, or political levels.

Przemek Branas (born 1987) – author of performances, videos and installations. He graduated from the Faculty of Intermedia at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, he defended his doctorate in 2018 at the Interdisciplinary Doctoral Studies of the University of Arts in Poznań. In his works, he combines biographical threads with symbols. He is interested in crossing the barriers set by the body and culture and mechanisms of social functioning. He participated, among others, at the Embodied Action festival in Hong Kong (2016), GUYU ACTION Performance Art Festival in Xi’an (China, 2016), Polish Performance Night, Le Lieu Gallery in Quebec (2014). He won the 2nd prize in the Spojrzenia 2017 competition. In 2015, he was the winner of the Gray House Foundation’s Szara Kamienica award. He was a resident of Meet Factory in Prague (2016), Sesama in Jakarta (2017) and Terra Foudation for American Art in Giverny (2017). Lives and works in Portugal. The works are in the collections of many public institutions in Poland: Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, Galeria Labirynt in Lublin, Tatra Museum in Zakopane, Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź, Galeria Arsenał in Poznań, Gdańsk City Gallery,Nomus, Gdańsk.