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Kraina Grzybów TV (Mushroom Land TV) is a Polish artistic universe created byWiktor Stribog,[1] published on aYouTube channel.[2] The core element of Kraina Grzybów is asurrealpsychological horror web series calledPoradnik Uśmiechu (Smile Guide).[3] With subtitles in several languages, including English, German, Czech, Russian and Italian, it became popular in many countries.
Poradnik Uśmiechu is a show without a concrete plot. The story is based on the theme of mushrooms, and the undefined, eponymous land in which the main character—a teenage girl named Agatka—is located.[4] She is the host of an imaginary educational showPoradnik Uśmiechu on the fictional channel Kraina Grzybów TV.[4] Her friend is an animated squirrel named Małgosia, with analter ego named Teufel (German for "Devil").[4]
The program is interrupted by interludes with statements from Agatka's mother, who is anonymous to the viewer. She explains her daughter's story and her inability to contact her, the result of a fact from the past that is incomprehensible to the viewer.[4] Other episodic characters are girls—Karolina, Justynka and Hatshepsut fromBytom—and an adult man nicknamed "Dżinsowy Człowiek" (Jeans Man). The viewer learns about the plot through five full-fledged episodes, and short videos posted on the channel.
ThePoradnik Uśmiechu series is an example of ahauntologic story,[4] stylized to look like VHS recordings from the 80s and 90s,[4] while being a videocreepypasta.[4] The first episode was published on YouTube on 23 December 2013.[5] Until the release of the end credits on 9 April 2017, the creators and actors were uncredited and unknown. For the duration of the series, the actors were not public figures.[6]
The characters' and the project's social media language is inconsequential and chaotic and the visual side is psychedelic and unsettling.[7] The episodes are interrupted with bits of American and Soviet educational footage from the 50s, 60s and 70s, with themes including nuclear physics, lifestyle, cooking and medicine.[8]
During the three-and-a-half years of the project five episodes were released,[9] with a third episode being swapped for a music video in the form of a different programGrzybowe Melodie (Mushroom Melodies), where the character Karolinka sings a song "Ballada w rytmie dżins" (A ballad in the rhythm of jeans).[10] The author, whose voice was distorted intensively, performed the song.[11]
The creator published a few pages of a bookW Krainie Grzybów (In the Land of Mushrooms) by a fictional author, Zofia Kopytlanka,[3] cited in the second[12] and the fourth[13] episode ofPoradnik Uśmiechu; the entire work has never been published.[3]
The universe involves a free computer game in English:Smile Guide: The Apple Escape, published onitch.io on 24 August 2016, with Agatka as the main character.[14] The game follows the specific, series' hauntological style.[15] In the game, the player must collect 25 apples and bring them to the Agatka Prophecy Station.
In 2014, during the time of the project, Wiktor Stribog created an advertisement for a Polish clothing brandPan tu nie stał (You sir weren't standing there). Despite not having a plot related toPoradnik Uśmiechu, the adSzczęście nóg nie liczy (Happiness doesn't count legs) is produced in the same style. The ad is credited to the fictional TV studioKraina Grzybów TV in Warsaw at the end.[16]
The reason for creating the series was Wiktor Stribog's love for "work that disturbs, bends reality, plays with the recipient's predictions and destroys them".[11] It resulted from his research interests (memes andvirals), and his artistic explorations.[17]
Kraina's concept was developed at the beginning of its creation, and its basic assumptions did not change throughout the project,[3] even though every episode ofPoradnik Uśmiechu was recorded in a different place.[11]
Wiktor Stribog followed several rules[1] including an attempt to generatenostalgic feelings[17] and draw attention with interrupted sequences[17] so his work would become amind virus. He used his experience as a grad student and PhD candidate researching internet culture.[1] He expected his work to gain traction, but was surprised whenKraina became known outside Poland.[1]
From 23 December 2013 to 9 April 2017, neither creator nor the series' purpose was known. Only in April 2017 did audience learn who the creator and the actors were. Despite this, the sense of the plot and the purpose are still ambiguous.
The music, composed by Wiktor Stribog, falls into genres—hauntology andvaporwave.[1] Stribog was inspired byKing Crimson,Brian Eno andKraftwerk, among others.[1] Mostly used as the soundtrack forPoradnik Uśmiechu,[18] it was published on 19 January 2019 asPoradnik Uśmiechu OST digitally onYouTube,[19]Spotify[20] andbandcamp[21] and as a limited release (200 discs) vinyl by Pan Tu Nie Stał on 7 June.[22] The album version has slight differences from the music in the TV show.
The incomprehensibility of the message, its styling and characteristic music led to a rapid increase in the project's popularity and helped it attract an audience in the multi-millions,[23] and afandom that gathered in groups onFacebook[24] andVK.[25] There were accounts whose authors falsely claimed to be the creator ofPoradnik Uśmiechu.[11]
Stribog has a positive attitude towardsKraina Grzybów fans,[11] and organized aReddit AMA in April 2017[11] and created a fan group on Facebook—Wiktor Stribog & The People in February 2019.[24]
Many amateur artists, inspired by the style created by Wiktor Stribog, started to create their own versions and remakes ofKraina Grzybów, mainly on YouTube. The most popular fan-made channels includeKraina Grzybów II TV,[26]Smith[27] and, unrelated to theKraina Grzybów universe,Magiczny Świat Ani,[28] strongly influenced by Stribog's series. The series has also inspired numerousfan artists.
Poradnik Uśmiechu has provoked many interpretations and channels dedicated to explaining it—one of them beingKrainaX,[29] presenting a theory thatKraina Grzybów symbolised nuclear war,[3] and an interpretation that Agatka was achild sexual abuse survivor.[3] The accuracy of some of them spawned theories that their authors were connected to the creators of the original series, which Stribog denied.[11] The author declined to explain the message of his work,[11] and did not deem any theory correct.[1]
The first official meeting at which the subject ofKraina Grzybów was taken up wasCo Kraina Grzybów?,[30] in May 2017[30] held in theMuseum of Modern Art, Warsaw.[30] Episodes ofSmile Guide were screened followed by a discussion between Wiktor Stribog and Dr. Magdalena Kamińska.[30]
In May 2018, Wiktor Stribog took part in the festivalCulminations, organizing a meeting withKraina viewers moderated by Dr. Kamińska.[31]
In the summer of 2018, an exhibition of Stribog's work titledSny o byciu zjedzonym (Dreams of being eaten) took place at the Kronika Center of Modern Art in Bytom.[32] One of the main elements wasPoradnik Uśmiechu. The exhibition featured a figure of Agatka and screens on which all the episodes being played.[33]
At the same time[34] another meeting with Wiktor Stribog was held in the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw as a part ofBiuro Tekstów Jawnych.[34] Fans could meet him in Cracow in July on meetYT inEXPO Kraków,[35] a month later at the Octopus Film Festival,[36] and in October at the Festiwal Fantastyki Falkon.[37]
Kraina Grzybów and its creator was a subject of the cultural magazineAntyfonie onTVP Kultura—a TV theme channel.[38] The episode aired on 11 March 2019.
The actors were not selected by casting;[11] they were close friends of Wiktor Stribog.[11] They had covered eyes and distorted voices in the series,[39] because the creator wanted to protect them from any unpredictable audience reactions.[39] Despite this, the identities of the actress who played Agatka and Wiktor Stribog himself were discovered even before their official disclosure.[39]
| Actor[40] | Character[40] | Episode[40] |
| Diana Klimowicz | Agatka | 1-6 |
| Anna Grudniewska (voice) | Małgosia AKA Teufel | 1-6 |
| Wiktor Stribog | Mom of Agatka (voice) | 1-6 |
| Łukasz Babula | Dżinsowy Człowiek (Jeans Man) | 4,6 |
| Magda Ładuniuk | Karolina | 4,6 |
| Agnieszka Piętka | Hatshepsut from Bytom | 5 |
| Diana Fict | Justynka | 6 |
| Number of episode[41] | Name of episode (in Polish)[41] | Released[41] |
| 1 | Jak skutecznie jabłko | 23 December 2013 |
| 2 | Jak zrobić z papieru | 23 February 2014 |
| 3 | not released | none |
| 4 | Jak swoje włosy | 18 September 2014 |
| 5 | Jak poprawnie telefon | 10 August 2015 |
| 6 | Jak swoje dziecko | 1 April 2017 |
