Jerzy Bereś „Altar 0 (Prophecy III)“, mixed media, 1969

The construction does not appear to be stable. Wooden elements are fitted together thanks to small pegs. A frying pan and two pebbles have been hung from straps. A lightly stretched string is wrapped in tow fibre. On top of a wooden pole, at a height of nearly 3 meters, a small glass bottle teeters, filled with water, with wild flowers stuck into it.

It is a thoughtful mechanism. To set it in motion requires a slight push against a black hand print that marks the pendulum weight. Then everything happens very quickly. The pendulum tilts back. It reveals a wooden phallus that was hidden in the recess of the tabletop. The phallus, which is mounted on an axis, rises. We can see from below that it has been painted white and red. At the same time we hear the sound of the pebbles hitting the steel frying pan, and we see a large flat stone hanging on a leather belt at about the height of our face, which, under the influence of the tilting pendulum, flies towards us. A quick dodge. The pendulum comes to a standstill.

Natalia Andrzejewska