Piotr Wysocki and Dominik Yalowinski held a painting and sculpting workshop at the Guarded Centre for Aliens in Bialystok, where only men are detained. The artists invited refugees of different nationalities to take part in the workshop, many of the refugees staying at the centre come from the former Soviet Union. The title Refugee Jam describes not only a situation of creating together. The word 'jam', depending on the context, can also mean trouble, crowding, smuggling or incapacitation. On the one hand, the artists alluded to the motif of the road, while on the other, they immobilised the cargo by depriving it of its wheels. In doing so, they referred to the situation of the people confined in the centre, emphasising their powerlessness, their helplessness, their state of limbo. A monitor was integrated into the body of the car, displaying a recording of the event filmed on a street in the Warsaw district of Praga. A car belonging to Chechens was set on fire there.

 


Dominik Jałowiński

Rok powstania: 2014
spray, OSB board
Collaboration: Piotr Wysocki and residents of the Guarded Centre for Aliens in Bialystok. The work was created as part of the Refugee Jam workshop. Courtesy of the Artists and Foundation for Polish Modern Art