Przyśniona rewolucja. O Novembrze Jakuba Woynarowskiego
Dreamt Revolution. On November by Jakub Woynarowski

Summary/Abstract: In 1794 November (Polish: listopad) could have still turned into Novembre, the first month in the non-existent Polish revolutionary calendar. At least, this could be the assumption made while browsing through the visual essay by Jakub Woynarowski, a historical variation on the theme of the Kościuszko Insurrection. The process of comprehending alternative history signifies also taking a look at oneself in one’s dream, in which the longing for modernity, in reality never accomplished to the very end – that tomorrow which never comes, has an obverse in the form of “fear of modernity”. November is suffused with viscous elements of melancholy, such as mud, that emblematic suspension of November and possibly even the quintessence of Polishness. Not only armies veer – the same is true of ideas, always becoming misshapen far from the metropolises that gave birth to them. Ideas are not only deformed by mud but in some way tamed and moulded into something that is known and familiar. Mud is, simultaneously, a curse and – ex luto lux! – a blessing. When “tomorrow” flounders in it, it becomes possible to dream safely about it.

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