Suzanne Treister

is one of two interrelated projects made in Torun, Poland, during a residency hosted by
the Centre of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu (CoCA) and Fundacja Fabryka UTU in September-October 2010


English translation of back label:

'During the Middle Ages most inns in Poland were run by Jews as leaseholders. Merchants from the East who stayed in these inns found the vodka offered to them unpalatable and suggested they use some of their essences, which they did.

So was created the recipe containing a special rose attar and some other ingredients. The modified vodkas were very much sought after because of their exquisite taste and were sold in all Jewish inns.

At the end of the nineteenth century my grandfather, Samuel Treister (1864-1942) built with his brother Joseph* a distillery on his estate Debina (by Ilawcze) in Galicia, South East Poland, then part of the Austrian Hungarian Empire - where they produced a variety of exclusive spirits from whiskeys to infused vodkas.

has been produced according to this ancient Polish-Jewish recipe handed down to me by my father, Maximilian.

is dedicated to the memory of Polish Jews who perished in the Shoah.

Distilled in TORUN - the birthplace of Nicolaus Copernicus by the Fabryka Wodek Kopernik.

is a project by Suzanne Treister in association with the Centre of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu of Torun and Fundacja Fabryka UTU.

* Josef organised and fully equipped a local nest of the Polish Gymnastic Society "Sokol". Weekly exercises were supplemented by shooting lessons and the best performers were rewarded with a bottle of Rozowka. '

(written in collaboration with Maximilian Treister)