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Installation view: "Mikołaj Sobczak, Impossible Songs", Jester | Flanders Arts Institute, Genk, 2024
© Mikołaj Sobczak. Courtesy the artist, Jester | Flanders Arts Institute
Ph: Van den Bussche-Vanden Bossche

Ph: Van den Bussche-Vanden Bossche
Mikołaj Sobczak
Imperio's Boudoir, 2024
In collaboration with Olik Stawik
Two wooden walls, wooden painted door, wooden floor, two antique photographs enclosed together in an A5 envelope, desk, mirror, chair, puppet, lighter in the shape of a hand grenade, prop – a package of Marlboro Gold
Two wooden walls, wooden painted door, wooden floor, two antique photographs enclosed together in an A5 envelope, desk, mirror, chair, puppet, lighter in the shape of a hand grenade, prop – a package of Marlboro Gold
270 x 205 x 262 cm
106.3 x 80.7 x 103.1 inches
106.3 x 80.7 x 103.1 inches
B-MSOBCZAK-.24-0022
Sylvin Rubinstein was a flamenco dancer of Jewish descent, born either in 1914 or 1917. In the early 1930s, he saw great success on European stages with his twin Maria,...
Sylvin Rubinstein was a flamenco dancer of Jewish descent, born either in 1914 or 1917. In the early 1930s, he saw great success on European stages with his twin Maria, as the duo Imperio and Dolores. After successfully escaping the Warsaw Ghetto, they received help from a German major named Werner, who remembered their performances and encouraged Sylvin to join the resistance movement to help hide Jewish children and engage in sabotage activities. According to his recollections, he threw grenades into a restaurant frequented by Nazi soldiers during one of his actions dressed as a woman. He stayed in Werner’s Berlin apartment until the end of the war, and in the 1950s, he started performing on German cabaret stages as Dolores, commemorating his sister who was murdered in Treblinka.
Exhibitions
Mikołaj Sobczak, Le Boudoir de l'Amour, Capitain Petzel, Berlin, 2024"Mikolaj Sobczak. Le Boudoir de L'Amour", Capitain Petzel, 2024.
"Mikolaj Sobczak. Impossible Songs", Jester | Flanders Arts Institute, Genk, 2024.