Kozyra

In Art Dreams Come True

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A multimedia project linking different forms of visual, musical and performance arts. A project that was begun in August 2003, and that is continuously entering into new phases that are being documented on video. The final phase will be a feature-length film of a basically documentary nature with fictional elements. The intermediate phases are: in the first phases a video-installation with a trailer, performances (till now: in Teatro Municipale in Trento, Italy and at Carnegie International, Pittsburgh) and then a celebration gala on board a ship. The action takes place between Berlin and Warsaw. In Berlin, the artist is to meet with Gloria Viagra, a Drag Queen, and in Warsaw with a singing instructor, Maestro. Each of these individuals leads Kozyra into a world equally dominated by artifice: Gloria, a dj and singer into the world of night clubs, and Maestro, a professional singer and singing instructor, into the world of opera. In both of these worlds, reign strong, but very different stereotypes of femininity and what it means to be a star. Gloria Viagra's main task is to help the artist discover the "woman" inside her, the ideal or incarnation of which is for the artist none other than Gloria herself or, in other words, Michel dressed as a woman. Gloria shows Kozyra the secrets of make-up and costume and picks suitable make up, hairstyle and wigs for her. She also goes shopping with her. Maestro, always artificial in life just as on stage, is the personification of the world of the opera, of sublimated feelings and emotions expressed in an unrealistic way, imbued with a powerful sense of artifice, in song. The artist has been taking classical singing lessons for a year now in order to acquire the capacity to express feelings in song, coming to master the arias set for her by Maestro: those of the cherubim from the Marriage of Figaro (during which he is dressed as a woman) and of Marguerite from Gounod's Faust (the aria with the jewels, during which a simple girl is transformed into a coquette).

The Gala is to be the crowing of the performance part of the project and its symbolic closing in time (the material for the film will emerge over the course of the project and will be edited after the Gala). It is the conclusion of this project and will show its final outcome: that is, Kozyra transformed. According to the artist's dreams (In art dreams come true), the Gala should take place on a ship (making reference to the kitsch topos of the transformation of the "ugly" duckling into the "beautiful" swan). The Maestro, Gloria Viagra and other Drag Queens will take part, playing the role of good fairies, arriving with gifts. In five scenes (each with its own choreography), the artist will interpret, in song, dance, costume and behaviour, five different musical genres, including opera, punk rock, pop and musical. In an ideal version the audience, sat around tables as in a cabaret, night club or dance hall, would not just be viewers, but also a part of the performance.