[PL]
You are descending into a cave. You are here to see your image in a mirror. In all honesty it sounds rather banal; you probably take a look at your mirror double several times a day. However, the mirrors gathered here are magical. They allow you to see who you truly are. Why are there so many of them? Probably because you have so many faces.

Erwin van Doorn & Inge Nabuurs, "The Sea Awaits Your Return", detail, photo: Bartosz Górka

Erwin van Doorn & Inge Nabuurs, "The Sea Awaits Your Return", detail, photo: Bartosz

Let's start with a test. The first room in the cave is a cabinet of pop scientists. One of them will test you to allow us to look at you better. Please, lie down on the couch and just answer the questions. You will see objects and you will choose those which you recognise as your own. Then we will show you the way to the right mirrors which will talk about who you are. If nobody is here, please ask the questions yourself and answer them. Take your own path.

Erwin van Doorn & Inge Nabuurs, "The Sea Awaits Your Return", detail, photo: Bartosz Górka

Erwin van Doorn & Inge Nabuurs, "The Sea Awaits Your Return", detail, photo: Bartosz Górka

Erwin van Doorn & Inge Nabuurs, "The Sea Awaits Your Return", detail, photo: Bartosz Górka

Before you lie down on the couch comfortably, we recommend you take a look at the compositions in the room. There are eight photographs pretending to be 17^th-century Dutch paintings. They mirror eight characters chosen by the artists. Each composition consists of a collection of objects and an element present in each: a human skull. Connotation with traditional European vanitas paintings would be a very good move.

Erwin van Doorn & Inge Nabuurs, "The Sea Awaits Your Return", detail, photo: Bartosz Górka

Erwin van Doorn & Inge Nabuurs, "The Sea Awaits Your Return", detail, photo: Bartosz Górka

The Latin motto Memento Mori is replaced here and now with Disco Mori, which is the title of the series of photographs presented. Disco is the Latin form of the first person singular present tense of the verb discere, which means "to learn". But a disco, as we all know, is also a place to dance with an underlit floor and a spinning mirror ball.

Erwin van Doorn i Inge Nabuurs, "Morze oczekuje Twojego powrotu", fragment ekspozycji, fot. Bartosz Górka

Erwin van Doorn i Inge Nabuurs, "Morze oczekuje Twojego powrotu", fragment ekspozycji, fot. Bartosz Górka

A lifeless and sometimes burdensome archive of memory is replaced in a moment by an active process of learning. Fear of the end changes into joy in every moment and a fearsome danse macabre of mediaeval flagellants into a vivid ecstasy of dancing. A she-shaman passing through an initiation is being eaten by the beasts of the forest and the white gnawed bones swirling during the dance are clothed in new flesh.

Erwin van Doorn & Inge Nabuurs, "The Sea Awaits Your Return", detail, photo: Bartosz Górka

Now you can lie down on the couch and take the test. It vaguely resembles a serious psychological test (although it is good to remember what Deleuze wrote: 'A schizophrenic out for a walk is a better model than the neurotic lying on the analyst's couch.'). But at the same time it resembles pop psych tests from a teenage magazine. Who knows... perhaps we are looking for a new Buddha or a Cinderella who ran away from the party? In any case, you see the objects and - according to your imagination and impulse - choose something for yourself.

Erwin van Doorn & Inge Nabuurs, "The Sea Awaits Your Return", detail, photo: Bartosz Górka

Erwin van Doorn & Inge Nabuurs, "The Sea Awaits Your Return", detail, photo: Bartosz Górka

Now we are going to tell you who you are and show you the way along a dark corridor where, behind one of the cinematic curtains, you can watch a short theatre of yourself. In fact, this is nothing special: just one of the Portraits from this gallery, and some dusty props from a collection of fetishes gathered from all over the world. All of this to move your imagination - your third, fourth and fifth eyes. And the mirrors in which you can try to see yourself. It is hard to predict where their circles will lead you.

Erwin van Doorn & Inge Nabuurs, "The Sea Awaits Your Return", detail, photo: Bartosz Górka

Erwin van Doorn & Inge Nabuurs, "The Sea Awaits Your Return", detail, photo: Bartosz Górka

Which character will you become in a moment of conflict? And if there is some other state besides conflict - a simultaneous clash of opposites? Can you find yourself outside the idea of gods and demons created by your mind? Whatever you see, we can highly recommend not attaching yourself too strongly to this image. Always try to think about an alternative. From a pirate's point of view, it is more profitable to drift freely on the seas of the imagination than to be bound to a small part of the divided world. You have all the colours of the rainbow in you.

Erwin van Doorn & Inge Nabuurs, "The Sea Awaits Your Return", detail, photo: Bartosz Górka

Erwin van Doorn & Inge Nabuurs, "The Sea Awaits Your Return", detail, photo: Bartosz Górka

Erwin van Doorn & Inge Nabuurs, "The Sea Awaits Your Return", detail, photo: Bartosz Górka

Proofreading: Robin Gill

Erwin van Doorn & Inge Nabuurs, "The Sea Awaits Your Return", Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art in Gdańsk, 14.2 - 13.4.14