Kuba Dorabialski
Invocation Trilogy 3: CONNECTION OF THE STICKS
Single channel video with stereo sound, Pan-Slavic ficto-language with English subtitles, 82'16", 2021.
The final and longest episode of Dorabialski's Invocation Trilogy, Connection of the Sticks (2021) maps out numerous locations throughout Eastern Europe, linking them together to culminate in one giant and preposterous act to bring on the dawn of a mystical and revolutionary future.
Performed in Dorabialski’s own fictional Slavic language — designed to be partly intelligible to most Slavic language speakers — Connection of the Sticks investigates what it means to explore memories, real and distorted, as a migrant who now lives in Australia.
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Conceived through the lens of his biographical ties to Eastern Europe, Kuba Dorabialski’s Invocation Trilogy is a series of videos that reflect on language, politics, and cultural memory.
Beginning in 2017 with the award-winning Floor Dance of Lenin’s Resurrection, Dorabialski set the tone with a narrative that blends history with fiction and the absurd.
Leaning heavily on cinematic tradition, the trilogy pulls focus on the turbulent history and fraught boundaries of Eastern Europe from the perspective of a deeply invested onlooker, while embracing and challenging its clichés and stereotypes.
Invocation Trilogy was installed at Carriageworks but never opened to the public due to Sydney's Covid-19 lockdowns of 2021. The exhibition migrated online.
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Carriageworks exhibition curated by Daniel Mudie Cunningham (August - October 2021)
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
Artbank collection, purchased 2022.
ESSAYS, INTERVIEWS AND REVIEWS:
Curatorial Essay - Daniel Mudie Cunningham
Invocation Trilogy - Online Screening & Artist Essay
Carriageworks Journal Essay - Fiona Kelly McGregor
SBS Polish Interview - Joanna Borkowska
ArtMargins Interview - Miška Mandić
WRITER, DIRECTOR, CINEMATOGRAPHY, POST-PRODUCTION, MUSIC
Kuba Dorabialski
CAST:
THE HISTORIAN WHO DANCES LENIN OUT OF THE GRAVE
Kuba Dorabialski
GRANDFATHER AS A YOUNG MAN
Bruno Dorabialski
SHURA KOLLONTAI
Roland Dorabialski
VOICE OF GOD-LENIN
Rob Vorch
WOMAN WITH DOGS
Izabella Sawik
RESURRECTED LENIN
Edward Dorabialski
PRODUCTION:
1st AD, SCRIPT SUPPORT, PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
Katy B Plummer
CAMERA OPERATOR FOR UNDERWATER SEQUENCE, PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
Szymon Dorabialski
SET ASSISTANT
Edward Dorabialski
DOG HANDLER
Małgorzata Jędrzejczak
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
Monica Rani Rudhar
CARRIAGEWORKS CURATOR, PRODUCTION ASSISTANCE
Daniel Mudie Cunningham
EXHIBITION SUPPORT
Daniel Mudie Cunningham
Glenn Thompson
Aarna Fitzgerald Hanley
Todd Hawken
Electra Foley
Ben Allison
Carriageworks, Sydney
THANK YOU
Uroš Čvoro
Astrid Lorange
Tobias Gilbert
Olga Svyatova
Damien March
Jacqui Mills
Ant Banister
Michaela Gleave
Tesha Malott
John Gillies
Lauren Carroll Harris
Andrew Brooks
Paul Power and Jacqui Driver
Michael Blake
Tony Vacher
Samantha Gordon at PropCo
Sarah Burke
Oliver Watts and Artbank
Mark Feary
Denis Cooper
Gayar Bulatov
Serj Teslenko
Consuelo Cavaniglia
Kath Fries
Vivienne Fries
Tristan Chant
Gina Mobayed
Clothilde Bullen
Nicole Barakat
Iakovos Amperidis and Kelly Azizi
David Varga
Rat Bedlington
Matthew Varnay
Nina Dorabialski
SPECIAL THANKS
Iwona Dorabialski
PARTLY FILMED ON THE LAND OF
Gadigal people of the Eora nation
Guringai people of the Eora nation
Burra Burra people of the Gundungurra nation
Maloongoola people of the Ngunawal nation
The Wiradjuri, Wolgalu, Ngunawal and Monaro Ngarigo people who travelled through and lived in the NSW Alpine region
Always was and always will be Aboriginal land