Both the CCA in Toruń and the Collection in Szczecin were established as part of the government project "Signs of Time" / "Znaki Czasu", which encouraged all voivodships to create regional collections of contemporary art. Szczecin has one of the most modern collections of this type. Apart from the works of recognised visual artists, it also includes modern music recordings and sound objects. The programme is funded by the Ministry of Culture and Nationa Heritage with the City of Szczecin.
The programme was designed and started in 2004, with the assumption, that the already existing collections in Western Pomerania would be completed, namely the Colletion of the National Museum in Szczecin and the "Osiecka Collection" from the Koszalin Museum. The year 1989 was chosen as the starting point, since it was a time of political and economic transformations, and the change of awareness that allowed for stronger and more open interactions between Polish and European art. It is also the symbolic date discontinuing the activity of numerous institutional collections, especially regional.
The regionality of the Szczecin collection is expressed not in the accumulation of art pieces created by artists related to the area, but rather in the need to preserve the most important phenomena of Polish art for the people of Szczecin. This is why the collection includes the classics of Polish contemporary art, such as Zofia Kulik, Natalia LL, Izabella Gustowska, Jarosław Modzelewski, Zbigniew Libera and Józef Robakowski, as well as artists of the younger generation, representing the most important trends of the Polish art scene (Elżbieta Jabłońska, Zuzanna Janin, Paweł Susid, Aleksandra Ska, Jan Smaga, Bogna Burska, Jakub Bąkowski, among others).
At the same time the collection incorporated works documenting the most important art events of the area, works that participated in the Festival of Contemporary Art in Szczecin, the Baltic Biennale of Contemporary Arts, as well as the interdisciplinary inSPIRACJE Festival and the Young Art Festival "Przeciąg".
The "Nothing is eternally important" exhibition presents only a small fraction of the Szczecin collection. The title of the exhibition (and the title of a work by Johan Muyle at the same time) explores the theme of everyday life. One of the recurring themes is the archetipical image of home and the family.
The image of home in Julita Wójcik's works is humorous in its literariness. Elżbieta Jabłońska plays with the image of the prototypical Polish mother. The dark side of childhood also echoes through the works of Zbigniew Libera, Barbara Konopka and Agata Michowska while Tomasz Mróz, Krzystof Sołowiej and Artur Malewski contemplate rituals, faith and religion.
List of artists:
Jakub Bąkowski, Hubert Czerepok, Marta Deskur, Wojciech Duda, Aneta Grzeszykowska, Izabella Gustowska, Elżbieta Jabłońska, Leszek Knaflewski, Barbara Konopka, Zofia Kulik, Piotr Kurka, Kamil Kuskowski, Konrad Kuzyszyn, Zbigniew Libera, Natalia LL, Artur Malewski, Agata Michowska, Tomasz Mróz, Johan Muyle, Hanna Nowicka, Anna Orlikowska, Józef Robakowski, Zygmunt Rytka, Jadwiga Sawicka, Aleksandra Ska, Jan Smaga, Krzysztof Sołowiej, Paweł Susid, Klaudia Wojciechowicz, Julita Wójcik.
Curators: Agata Zbylut and Kamil Kuskowski.
Opening: 23 September 2011 at 19:00.
The exhibition runs until the 20th of November 2011.
The Centre of Contemporary Art in Toruń
Wały gen. Sikorskiego 13
87-100 Toruń
Tel: (+48 56) 610 97 00
Fax: (+48 56) 621 07 24
www.csw.torun.pl
Source: press information