MEDIUM IS A MESSAGE: TEXT: PART 2 of 4

This was transference per se, wasn't it?

Totally agreed, dude! It was myself acquiring the identities of all these serial killers for the sake of art.

Wow! Were you damaged -- did you have to calm yourself down on your shrink's couch?

The shrink is never a solution for the Brave Polish Boys. There was no distinction in Poland between therapist and psychiatrist. That's the reason for me and most of my friends to choose to medicate ourselves ... LOL.

Did you start your channeling while still in Poland?

No, the first project to use this method was called Giordano Bruno and I completed it in New York City in 1993. It was a tribute to the Italian astronomer who was tortured and burned at the stake in the Inquisition. I printed images of torture devices used by the Inquisition. I saw many of them in the museum in San Gimigiano. They were charged with blood and tears of past. It shocked me to realize that people could find such cruel ways to inflict pain.

After that, you made a project in Auschwitz called Obsession. It was a result of your early encounter with the Holocaust back in Poland. Can you tell me about it?

I went to Auschwitz when I was 12 years old. Auschwitz was sensory overlord. I felt like someone hit me with a blunt object on my head. I lost my memory. It means that this site is too strong to sense anything anymore. Too many things happened there. Not all places or events communicate to me. The right interface means the right contact.

You lost you memories, only to get them back 20 years later?

Yeah, it stayed buried in my unconscious till it surfaced in early 90s. By then, there was no reason to bring it back in old form of piety and suffering; it is an old hat after all.

Is that why you connected Fascism with Fashion?

I didn't have to connect anything.
Fascism was fashionable. Just look at the uniforms and shoes.
The Germans were first to say that effect is more important than meaning.
McLuhan said the same thing 40 years later.
The image of a skull on SS hats is a pointless but effective masquerade.
They created a fetish, and they knew the power of it.
Leni Riefenstahl and Karajan are good examples of good artists drawn into a Black Hole.
In the meantime, you do most of your recent projects in Japan.

I find it interesting, because Japan and Germany were a part of Nazi Axis in the Second War. Do you see any connections?

Well, that's a good question.
Some like it hot, some like it cold.
These two cultures are cultures of extreme.
You can't apply American values here. It doesn't stick.
However, I prefer to be in Japan than in Germany.

What's wrong with Germany?

It is personal. I lived there for two years.
It is not fun to walk around and read on the wall -- Auslander Raus.

Does that mean Foreigners Out?

Yes, you got it.

I had to leave, because I started to have accidents. LOL.
I had such a bad attitude, that it came crushing down on me.
It started with small cuts, then I got hit by a car, then I got hit by a German punk in the bar with a glass of beer.
In the end, I ended up in the Hospital having open-heart surgery!
Dude … then I knew it was time to leave.

Was Japan more user-friendly?

Totally. I love this place.

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