As part of the ‘Polska’ season of Polish performance at Summerhall, Wojtek Ziemilski presents Small Narration, a performance-lecture video-art mix-up.

What’s in a name? Nationality? Identity? Personality? Wojtek has changed his name a few times, and explains to us the reasons by reading a monologue as the various alterations to his name are projected behind him. Throughout the reading he is still, lit by a small light from the stand that holds his pages.

What’s in a name? When moving to America, his aunt suggested he use his middle name, Anthony, for ease; this was then shortened to Tony. Moving to Portugal he attempted to return to his first name, Wojtek, but this was too difficult for the Portuguese, so was changed to Voitek, and to keep some national nostalgia Wojtek wrote it as Vvoitek. He explains that in Polish this is just a ridiculous spelling.

What’s in a name? Wojtek is named after his grandfather, whose nickname is Tunio. Wojtek’s grandfather was exposed by the Polish media as a collaborator in the Communist Secret Services. Tunio was an artist and a musician who wrote in-depth reports about any unorthodox actions or conversations he witnessed. This secret, once discovered, was publicised in the Polish media, and now the name Wojtek (or Tunio) Ziemilski is shameful.

Wojtek’s lecture continues in a monotonous voice, but picks up pace when rolling through the possibilities: that maybe Tunio didn’t know the extent of what he was doing, or maybe he was writing false reports; maybe it’s right for him to be punished for the crime against his people, or maybe it isn’t fair for an old man’s last years to be destroyed by exposing this secret and letting the hate and judgement descend upon him and move him out of his house and home.

Small Narrations is about many things – memory, history, nationality, age, judgement, war, performance, words – so much so that it is difficult to digest all at once. I should probably see it again. As he states at the beginning, it is almost impossible to start at the beginning as our own beginnings start before we exist. With the releasing of his grandfather’s secret, Wojtek is coming to terms with this fact.