Deciphering myths, epistemic trauma and lingual anarchy, or: On the transcultural creative empathetic adaptation of a Polish TV series by Indian artist Mithu Sen

This article analyses the site-specific project Myth and Dreams by Indian artist Mithu Sen, prepared for the Municipal Gallery in Poznań, Poland in 2018. The exhibition was a very special transcultural, empathetic and transmedia adaptation of one episode of the popular Polish TV series M jak miłość (‘L Is for Love’) (2000–present). The article focuses primarily on the issue of the transcultural and creative adaptation of the Polish series by an Indian visual artist, going in the direction of deconstructing cultural myths. The methodological toolbox primarily includes therefore, methods relating to Roland Barthes’s semiotics, as well as cultural studies, with the notion of transculturalism and illegibility as a consciously applied artistic strategy. The text also refers to the methods used to analyse television series in relation to social practices. After Linda Hutcheon, adaptation is perceived in two ways: as a product and as a process . Not only will narrative strategies be considered, but also the mediums in which they are presented. The study argues that Mithu Sen’s radical transcultural adaptation of a television series – made without any knowledge of the Polish language – is an effective tool for deciphering myths associated with cultural stereotypes and established social practices. It works as a subversive adaptation.