Paulina
Araszkiewicz

Designs of objects, costumes and spaces for an experimental film based on Alfred Kubin’s novel The other side

Alfred Kubin’s only novel cannot be fit into any frames, as it consists of a series of visions put together by means of literary devices. It is a good starting point for artistic activities – due to its sketchy nature, it leaves room for the recipient’s own interpretation. The State of Dream has become for me a product of imagination, an attempt to escape from reality and, at the same time, a mirror and symbol of the passing world. I decided that the most suitable form of expression would be an experimental film using visual devices to present this world full of contradictions, the subjectivity of perceiving reality and the impact of imagination and passing on reality. Only one rule applies here: everything that is in the State of Dream must come from the past. This is what costumes and the set design should be like: gnawed by time and originating from diverse realities that are often not parallel in time. This place served as a shelter for those dissatisfied with contemporary times, a promise of utopia that eventually turned out to be a disappointment.