Marcin Dudek spoke with Daniela Berglehn of Monopol Magazin about his solo exhibition, EKIPA, at the Museum Ostwall in Dortmund. Read below in English or in the original German at this link
Marcin Dudek about the European Championship
At the Dortmunder U, Marcin Dudek shows his view of football. The Polish artist was once part of the Krakow hooligan scene. What is his assessment of the European Championship? A conversation about national pride, commerce and the spirit of the game
Marcin Dudek, art and football are not just an issue for you because of the European Championship , right?
My interest in football and the hooligan scene stems from my biography. I grew up in the 1990s in a housing estate on the outskirts of Krakow. Being a hooligan became my identity and was my response to a brutal social reality. There were no other options, and certainly no art. When a friend died and I received a suspended sentence, I began to reflect on these experiences. Now art is my club, and my work is always a piece of memory work.
You use objects from the scene or the stadium for your collages and installations. How do these elements function in an art context?
I work with the symbols and rituals of the scene, but I don't do hooligan art. I'm interested in the structures behind it: How do people organize themselves? How do they find each other? Coming together, merging into the group, that's the beauty. Then there's the escalation, the violence. And in between there's this moment where you don't know what's going to happen. Where anything is possible. Take the bomber jacket with the orange lining, for example. A military jacket, a uniform, and already charged with meaning. Before actions, the jacket is turned inside out, the inside comes out. This turns the crowd orange, and then it goes through the stadium like a wave - it's a fascinating image. In my performances, I give it a new, aesthetic dimension. The orange smoke signals: something is happening here. It creates a moment of disorientation, but it also offers protection - it's about hiding and showing yourself. This ambivalence makes it exciting.
The mood surrounding the European Championship is also ambivalent: national pride and extreme political positions such as the wolf salute of a Turkish player and fans clash with the idea of an open and diverse Europe. How do you experience this?
We are in a phase of uncertainty, of transition, and football is a way of creating identity. Where do I stand? Who am I? It is also a game, perhaps like at carnival: are you the duck or the crocodile? Competition is initially positive because it is a moment of coming together and community. That can be a good outlet. And it can be abused. When politics appears in the stands, it is like 2000 years ago in Rome. Those in power show strength. Erdoğan and Viktor Orbán are very aware of this mechanics of football. Erdoğan played football himself, and Orbán was the founder of a football club in his hometown of Felcsút. All of our society's current conflicts always immediately show up on the pitch - but the processes there are also somewhat under control.
Is this also an opportunity?
It depends. Football was the sport of the working class, but capitalism hijacked it. Some go so far as to say it's about turning workers against each other and distracting them from the real problems. Bread and games, in other words - but that too has its tipping point. I haven't been to a big game for eight years, there's been an overdose for a long time. The actual idea of the game survives in small towns and villages: the church, the school, the football pitch. That's a pattern. And there are efforts to reclaim the game that make me optimistic: there are the ultra protests, initiatives by queer people, a changing understanding of masculinity. Everything is in flux, and where the Turkish flag hangs out of the window today, there might be a German flag tomorrow. I don't know whether an identification offer such as the nation will ever become obsolete - but identity is not something fixed, it is changeable. And I'm very happy to have the choice.
