An oubliette was a type of medieval, bottle-shaped dungeon where the only escape route was through a small opening high above the ground. Without external assistance, getting out of this type of cell was almost impossible. It was a very cruel type of punishment, psychologically tormenting the inmates by putting freedom seemingly within their grasp while remaining an almost certain impossibility.

In Oubliette four men meet in a prison of the future, their consciousnesses  embedded in a virtual reality, dooming them to an eternity of incarceration. They find themselves in a surreal world where the laws of physics do not apply, existence is endless and the path to freedom is unclear. Trapped in a workshop style environment, the inmates create a primitive societal structure based on the illusion of their bodies and the memories of their former lives. They occupy themselves with a constant examination of the paraphernalia that surrounds them, hoping to find the means to regain the freedom they so dearly long for. They submit to each other’s unconventional experiments aimed at achieving a desired but in fact unattainable goal, and their actions have various effects on the functioning of the virtual system.

“Oubliette” is a performance inspired by the history of the prison system, penalisation, punishment and supervision, but also of a deep distress that is affecting the body. It is a story about the enslavement of both the body and mind and the interpretation of constraint, sacrifices, obligations and supression. It refers to a pointless and futile effort, which is endless and doomed to failure, but at the same time inspiring hope and constant motivation. The presented world is also supposed to express the inner perception and condition of a lonely man in a visual way.

Project accomplished thanks to finances from
„Creative Scholarship of the City of Krakow”.