Katarzyna Krakowiak has been selected by a jury of curators, artists and peers at the Zachęta National Gallery to represent Poland with Everyone has the Right to Sound. The project, curated by Michał Libera, questions the division between the private and the public, the intimate and the exposed. It uses audio, breaking away from space and matter as a metaphor for intervention in the public space and infrastructure, establishing an unpredictable sense of formal and even legal. This touches upon the modern-day concerns of the architect. The idea of the common ground is implemented in the design and the method of exhibition, while presenting an innovative perspective on the topic. The competition for the design of the exhibition in the Polish Pavilion was announced by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the National Art Gallery in 2011.
Chipperfield's method for selecting architects reinforces the theme, placing an emphasis on collaboration and dialogue, encouraging architects to work with one another and develop creative relationships. Optimally, the projects at the Biennale will go beyond any limits of age, style and geography, while including a range of institutions and media affiliated with the realm of architecture and urban planning. Talent is just as important this year as is each individual artist's ambition and sense of responsibility - and the collective spirit of progress and cooperation.
David Chipperfield is known for developing London's redevelopment project art museum Tate Modern in 1994 and his completion of the reconstruction of the destroyed building Neues Museum in Berlin in 2009. He chose Common Ground as the theme for the 13th Venice Architecture Biennale because, as he says, he wants this year's Biennale to "celebrate a vital, interconnected architectural culture, and pose questions about the intellectual and physical territories that it shares". Chipperfield has welcomed a diverse group of artists from around the world to present their view of the common ground between buildings and the public spaces of the city, examining the meanings of architecture in the political, sociological, psychological and artistic context - to develop the understanding of how architecture can help define the common spaces within a metropolis.
Katarzyna Krakowiak (b. 1980) lives and works in Gdańsk. She graduated from the Department of Graphic Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań, completing her final project in the workshop of Mirosław Bałka. She is focused on the mechanics and art of sound and acoustics, mainly in the public space through sculpture and performance.
In 2010 Poland was represented by Agnieszka Kurant and architect Aleksandra Wasilkowska, with their project Emergency Exit. The installation was made up of a hi-rise structure, resembling a ski-jump launching pad or a public pool spring board, that made jumpers feel like they were leaping into the clouds.
The 13th International Architecture Exhibition of the Biennale di Venezia takes place at the Pavilions at the Giardini, the Arsenale, and in the historic city centre of Venice from the 29th of August to the 25th of November 2012. The event hosts 41 countries, with Kosovo, Kuwait and Peru participating for the first time.
See more on the Biennale at: www.labiennale.org
Editor: Agnieszka Le Nart
Source: press release, PAP