Laszlo Lakner has taken Sándor Petöfis’ Polish nationalist poem of 1848, “Anyám tyúkja” (“Mother’s Hen”), and broken it down on paper using the computer technology available in 1989. In effect, Lakner has seized a nationalistic voice – one quite proud of its rhythms, colloquialisms, and dialectic quirks – and translated it into the language of the computer age.


Although the technology may appear dated (after less than two decades), today, Lakner’s work seems to prophesize our contemporary era, in which entire canons of knowledge have been digitized and transplanted onto the Internet. The same year as the fall of the Berlin Wall and two years before the collapse of the USSR, Lakner boldly rewrote a Polish anthem in Wingdings. In this way, he truly follows in the nationalist tradition, writing poetry in the voice and dialect of his culture. In 2005, as we watch nationalism dangerously collide with technological sprawl, Lakner’s medium has a chilling effect.

In Polish, with a German translation.