The first costume from the series of architectural costumes Living Sculptures was created in 2009. Inspired by my studies at the Faculty of Architecture, while simultaneously experimenting with performance art and creating individual costumes, I began a project that gradually grew into a collection of architectural costumes. Each of them can be considered my avatar — a materialization of an energetic body corresponding to different periods of my life.

Thanks to the gradual development of the project, the images differ noticeably from one another, yet they maintain a common constructive solution: modularity, repetition of elements, a black costume base, and ultraviolet coloring of the artistic form. The series of costumes was conceived as an art project — first and foremost as an artistic statement.

The first living sculpture festival I happened to attend by chance was the World Living Statues Festival 2012 in Arnhem (the Netherlands), where I participated for about five years. This was followed by the Living Statues International Festival Masca in Bucharest (Romania), the UFO Festival in Poland, and others. Participation in these remarkable festivals helped me see my work from a new perspective. The time allotted for performances at such festivals allows one to relive the act anew — to become more attentive to oneself, the situation, and the viewer.

When I begin creating a costume, I do not embed a specific image in it. At first, it emerges for me as a sculpture, and only later as a character, which it often becomes during the first performance. Quite often, the audience themselves find associations and give names to the costumes — I simply stimulate their imagination.

Sometimes during a performance I hear various associations from viewers — what the image reminds them of. I may then play along with their assumptions through movement or, conversely, act in an entirely opposite manner. I enjoy improvisation, and often the whole performance is built precisely on such interaction with the audience’s attention.

The nature of my behavior can change throughout a performance, which is reflected in my plasticity, speed of movement, sharpness, and internal concentration. I always think about how the overall shape of the costume transforms in motion and through changing poses. Of course, the structure of the costume can dictate certain plastic qualities, but this makes it even more interesting to vary them depending on the situation.